USA > Utah > History of Utah > Part 19
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For these angels did not abide my law. therefore they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity, and from henceforth are not Gods, but are angels of God, for ever and ever.
And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with
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her for time and for all eternity, if that covenant is not by me, or by my word, which is my law, and is not sealed by the holy spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power-then it is not valid, neither of force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word ; when they are out of the world, it cannot be received there, because the angels and the Gods are appointed there ; by whom they cannot pass ; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory, for my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God.
And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power, and the keys of this Priesthood ; and it shall be said unto them, ye shall come forth in the first resurrection ; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection ; and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths-then shall it be written in the Lamb's Book of Life, that he shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity, and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the Gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fullness and a continuation of the seeds for ever and ever.
Then shall they be Gods, because they have no end ; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue ; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be Gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.
I am the Lord thy God, and will give unto thee the law of my Holy Priesthood, as was ordained by me, and my Father, before the world was.
Abraham received all things, whatsoever he received, by revelation and command- ment, by my word, saith the Lord, and hath entered into his exaltation, and sitteth upon his throne.
Abraham received promises concerning his seed, and of the fruit of his loins-from whose loins ye are, namely, my servant Joseph,-which were to continue so long as they were in the world; and as touching Abraham and his seed, out of the world they should continue ; both in the world and out of the world should they continue as innumerable as the stars ; or, if ye were to count the sand upon the sea shore, ye could not number them.
This promise is yours, also, because ye are of Abraham, and the promise was made unto Abraham ; and by this law are the continuation of the works of my Father, wherein he glorifieth himself.
Go ye, therefore and do the works of Abraham ; enter ye into my law, and ye shall be saved.
But if ye enter not into my law ye cannot receive the promise of my Father, which he made unto Abraham.
God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why
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did she do it ? Because this was the law, and from Hagar sprang many people. This, therefore, was fulfilling, among other things, the promises.
Was Abraham, therefore, under condemnation ? Verily, I say unto you, Nay ; for l, the Lord, commanded it.
Abraham was commanded to offer his son Isaac ; nevertheless, it was written, thou shalt not kill. Abraham, however, did not refuse, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.
Abraham received concubines, and they bear him children, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, because they were given unto him, and he abode in my law, as Isaac also, and Jacob did none other things than that which they were commanded ; and because they 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 many wives and concubines, as also Solomon and Moses my servants ; as also many others of my servants, from the beginning of creation until this time ; and in nothing did they sin save in those things which they received not of me.
David's wives and concubines were given unto him, of me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power ; and in none of these things did he sin against me, save in the case of Uriah and his wife ; and, therefore he hath fallen from his exaltation, and received his portion ; and he shall not inherit them out of the world ; for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord.
I am the Lord thy God, and I gave unto thee, my servant Joseph, an appointment, and restore all things ; ask what ye will, and it shall be given unto you according to my word:
And as ye have asked concerning adultery-verily, verily I say unto you, if a man receiveth a wife in the new and everlasting covenant, and if she be with another man, and I have not appointed unto her hy the holy anointing, she hath committed adultery, and shall be destroyed.
If she be not in the new and everlasting covenant, and she be with another man, she has committed adultery ;
And if her husband be with another woman, and he was under a vow, he hath broken his vow, and hath committed adultery.
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And again, as pertaining to the law of the Priesthood : If any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent ; and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified ; he cannot commit adultery, for they are given unto him ; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else ;
And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him, therefore is he justified.
But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man ; she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfill the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world ; and for their exalta- tion in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men ; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified.
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Prior to the recording of this revelation the Prophet had taught the doctrine, privately, and he and other prominent Elders had practiced it. But this also was in secret, owing to the great prejudice it was foreseen it would evoke. It was not avowed, even to the masses of the Saints, until after their removal from Illinois.
Such a doctrine as plurality of wives-the patriarchal marriage system of the ancients-though practiced by an Abraham, a Jacob, a Moses, a Gideon, could not well be mooted, much less established in this monogamic age, without meeting opposition, even among the Saints, prepared in a measure by their peculiar religious training for startling innovations on the prescribed boundaries of tradition. Hence, as said, the secrecy with which it was at first carried on. It would have proved a terrible weapon in anti-Mormon hands, had it been openly proclaimed at Nauvoo in those dangerous days.
As it was, it became known to some extent on the outside through apostasy, and of course was deemed and denounced as immoral. John C. Bennett obtained an inkling of it before leaving Nauvoo, and it doubtless formed the basis of his vengeful assault upon those who had severed him from the Church for adultery, which to the Latter-day Saint differs as much from plural marriage as darkness differs from light. Other seceders from Mormonism, who fell away later, revamped the tales told by Bennett, until they became with other things a casus belli against the Prophet and his people, and no doubt helped to hasten his tragic end.
The first record of the revelation on Celestial Marriage was made by William Clayton, at the Prophet's dictation. It was on the 12th of July, 1843. A month later it was read by Hyrum Smith to the Stake Presidency and the High Council at Nauvoo. The majority of them accepted it. Emma Smith, the Prophet's wife, though at first averse to the doctrine, finally received it and gave other wives to her husband. Subsequently she is said to have destroyed the original document of the revelation. She positively denied, after the Prophet's death, that he had ever practiced polygamy. The revela- tion. as published, is from an exact copy of the original, taken by
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Joseph C. Kingsbury for Bishop Newel K. Whitney, the day after it was recorded by William Clayton, the Prophet's secretary.
Joseph Smith's mind was largely the mind of a statesman. He had meditated much upon the political problems of his period, and sincerely sorrowed over the corruptions and degeneracy of the times. He thought, moreover, that he saw a way of escape from many of the evils then threatening his country. One of these was the slavery question, his plan for the solution of which, had it been adopted, would have saved the nation a million lives, millions of treasure and the terrible hatreds and heart-burnings that have ever since divided, far more effectually than Mason and Dixon's line, the North from the South. Joseph Smith's plan for the settlement of slavery was for the general government to purchase from the South their negroes and then liberate them.
During the winter of 1843-4, the Prophet corresponded with several eminent statesmen, such as Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Lewis Cass, Richard M. Johnson and Martin Van Buren, who were all known to be aspirants for the Presidency. Each was asked this question : "What will be your rule of action relative to us as a people, should fortune favor your ascension to the Chief Magistracy ?" Clay and Calhoun were the only ones who replied. Their answers being politic and evasive, the Prophet administered to each a stinging reproof for what he deemed cowardice and lack of candor.
He also took to task, about this time, James Arlington Bennett, of New York, who in a rather bombastic letter to the " American Mohamet," had intimated his desire to become his "right-hand man;" at the same time making known his desire to run for high office in Illinois, and use the Mormon vote to lift himself into power. Said the Prophet to Bennett: "Shall I who have witnessed the visions of eternity, who have heard the voice of God, and communed with angels,
shall I worm myself into a political hypocrite ? Shall I who hold the keys of the last Kingdom stoop from the sublime authority of Almighty God to be handled as a monkey's 15-VOL. 1.
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catspaw, and pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of political demagoguery ? No, verily no. I combat the errors of ages, I meet the violence of mobs, I cope with illegal pro- ceedings from executive authority, I cut the Gordian knot of powers ; and I solve mathematical problems of universities with truth- diamond truth ; and God is my 'right-hand man.'"
The next announcement from Nauvoo was to the political world somewhat startling. It was the nomination of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. The nomination was made January 29th, 1844, and was duly sustained at a State convention held at Nauvoo on the 17th of May. This was followed by the public enunciation of Joseph Smith's views upon the powers and policy of the Federal Government. Therein he announced himself as favoring :
(1) The abolition of slavery, but upon the basis of a just remuneration of all slave-holders by the general government.
(2) The reduction of the numbers and pay of Congressmen ; the money thus saved, together with the proceeds from the sale of public lands, to be used in reimbursing slave-holders for the negroes freed.
(3) The abolition of imprisonment for debt, and of imprison- ment for every crime excepting murder; work upon public improvements to be made the penalty for larceny, burglary and like felonies. "Let the penitentiaries," said he, "be turned into seminaries of learning."
(4) The abolition of the practice, in army or navy, of court- martialing men for desertion. " If a soldier or marine runs away, send him his wages, with this instruction, that his country will never trust him again. Make honor the standard with all men."
(5) The investment of power in the President to send armies to suppress mobs.
(6) The extension of the Union, with the consent of the red man, from sea to sea.
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(7) The annexation of Texas, if she petitioned for it, and of Canada and Mexico, whenever they should desire to enter the Union.
Said the Prophet: "We have had Democratic presidents, Whig presidents, a pseudo-Democratic-Whig president, and now it is time to have a President of the United States." Such were the principal planks of the platform upon which Joseph Smith as a candidate for the Chief Magistracy went into the campaign of 1844. Henry Clay was the Whig candidate, and James K. Polk the Democratic candi- date for President at the same time.
To promulgate these views through the eastern states and act as the Prophet's electioneerers in the campaign, went forth from Nauvoo, in April and May of that memorable year, Apostles Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Lyman Wight and many other Elders. Joseph kept with him his brother Hyrum and Apostles John Taylor and Willard Richards; Elder Taylor having succeeded the Prophet as editor of the Times and Seasons, and Willard Richards being Church historian. Sidney Rigdon, at this time, was living at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, having lost faith in Mormonism, or at least in Joseph Smith, and retired from the troubles and turmoils of Nauvoo. William and Wilson Law with several other Elders had lately been severed from the Church and were now at the head of a local opposition movement designed for the Prophet's overthrow.
It may well be doubted that Joseph Smith, on entering the polit- ical arena as a presidential candidate, anticipated a successful issue of the campaign. Though his views in some places became very popu- lar,-which we presume was his main object in running for the Presidency,-his thoughts at that time, judging from his acts and expressions, were dwelling upon another subject entirely. That sub- ject was the exodus of the Saints to the west,-an event he had predicted in August, 1842, and a project which various notable personages, friendly to him and his people, had since advised him to carry into effect. Undoubtedly he would have done so had he lived,
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in which event Joseph Smith, in lieu of Brigham Young, would have been the founder of Utah.
In February, 1844, soon after his nomination for President, the Prophet had directed the organization of an exploring expedition to seek out a home for the Saints beyond the Rocky Mountains,-in California or Oregon. Among the men selected for this enterprise were Jonathan Dunham, Phineas H. Young, David D. Yearsley, David Fullmer, Alphonso Young, James Emmett, George D. Watt and Daniel Spencer. These formed the nucleus of the proposed expedition, to which volunteers were subsequently added. Says Samuel W. Richards, one of these volunteers: "The outfit for each man was to consist of a rifle and ammunition, a saddle-horse, a pack-horse, with a few provisions and cooking utensils, and for the rest of our support we were to kill game on the way. Each man was to have in his pocket five hundred dollars, to purchase lands for our people a home whenever we should find a place suitable. Our party was thoroughly organized, but never started from Nauvoo."
In March, Joseph Smith memorialized Congress and the President -John Tyler-relative to the passage of an act, drafted by himself, providing for the protection of American citizens "wishing to settle Oregon and other portions of the territory of the United States; also for the protection of the people of Texas against Mexico. He asked for the privilege of raising one hundred thousand men for these purposes.
Oregon at that time, it must be remembered, though rightfully possessed by the United States, was also claimed by Great Britain, and was jointly occupied by American settlers and British fur traders, pending final diplomatic settlement between the two countries. Oregon then included Washington, Idaho and portions of Montana and Wyoming. To the south were the Mexican provinces of California and New Mexico; California comprising Utah, Nevada and portions of Wyoming and Colorado, while New Mexico took in Arizona. Texas, formerly a part of Mexico, but now independent, was soon to be annexed to the United States,-the Democrats, who
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were about returning to power, having made that the issue of the presidential campaign. The annexation was much against Mexico's wish, and she threatened to regard it as equivalent to a declaration of war.
Such was the situation at the time that Joseph Smith sent his memorials to Washington: Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt being the bearers of the same to the nation's capital. From Apostle Hyde's reports to the Prophet in April, we excerpt the following:
"Judge Douglas has been quite ill, but is just recovered. He will help all he can ; Mr. Hardin likewise. But Major Semple says he does not believe anything will be done about Texas or Oregon this session.
Congress is afraid of England, afraid of Mexico, afraid the Presidential election will be twisted by it.
The most of the settlers in Oregon and Texas are our old enemies, the mobocrats of Missouri.
Your superior wisdom must determine whether to go to Oregon, to Texas, or to remain in these United States."
Later : "We have this day (April 26th) had a long conversation with Judge Douglas. He is ripe for Oregon and California. He said he would resign his seat in Congress if he could command the force that Mr. Smith could, and would be on the march to that country in a month. 'In five years,' said he, 'a noble state might be formed, and then if they would not receive us into the Union, we would have a government of our own.'"
Thus we see that while the campaign for the Presidency gave the Prophet an excellent opportunity to present his political views to the nation, it was the contemplated exodus of his people to the Rocky Mountains that mostly occupied his thoughts. Said he, soon after the departure of the Apostles on their political mission : "I care but little about the presidential chair. I would not give half as much for the office of President of the United States, as I would for the one I now hold as Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo Legion."
That Legion he doubtless designed as the nucleus of his army of one hundred thousand. At its head Joseph Smith, had he lived,
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would have moved westward to maintain the rights of his country against Great Britain and Mexico, and found another State for the Union in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. Fate, however, inter- posed at this juncture, not to defeat the design, which was eventually executed, but to change, as in the case of Moses and Joshua, the personality of the executor.
We come now to the last act in the drama, preceding the fulfill- ment of the Prophet's design. The winter of 1843-4 had witnessed the defection from Mormonism of several persons who for some years had been more or less prominent in its history. Among these, were William and Wilson Law, already mentioned. This twain were brothers. They were of Irish descent and natives of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Francis M. and Chauncey L. Higbee, sons of Judge Elias Higbee, were numbered with the seceders, as were also Robert D. and Charles A. Foster. All or most of these had been excommunicated from the Church for dishonesty and immorality. They set up a church of their own, with William Law as its head, denounced Joseph Smith as " a fallen prophet," and proceeded to inaugurate another crusade against him. In secret sympathy with these men were Sidney Rigdon, William Marks and Austin A. Cowles.
Upon the testimony of William Law and others, Joseph Smith was indicted at Carthage for polygamy, in the latter part of May. He surrendered himself for trial, but the prosecution not being ready to proceed, the case was continued for the term. Charles Foster, temporarily friendly, disclosed to Joseph a plot of the seceders to murder him while at Carthage, which kindly service enabled him to baffle the conspirators and return to Nauvoo in safety.
But the design of the opposition was not merely to assail the Prophet. Nauvoo and its citizens generally were to be the objects of attack. To this end a paper was established there called the Nauvoo Expositor, of which the Laws, Fosters and Higbees with one Charles Ivins were the publishers, and Sylvester Emmons the editor. Emmons was a non-Mormon member of the City Council. One of the purposes of the Expositor, as announced in its prospectus issued
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May 10th, 1844, was to advocate "the unconditional repeal of the Nauvoo City charter," efforts to which end had already been made in the Illinois Legislature. Its further design, as appeared later, was to libel and defame the leading Mormon citizens of Nauvoo,-possibly to incite mobocratic assaults upon the city. At all events such was the view taken by many citizens as to its purpose and policy.
The first and final number of the Nauvoo Expositor, reeking with filthy scandals, was issued on the 7th of June. Public indigna- tion was at once aroused. Decency was shocked. Modesty had been made to blush. Potent to the people of Nauvoo as were such considerations, they were but secondary compared with the deep and deadly injury that was sought to be done the city. Mobs, incited by anti-Mormon politicians,-more than ever incensed at what they deemed the towering presumption of the Mormon leader in running for the Presidency,-were already threatening Nauvoo, and such scandalous reports, if accepted as true, might precipitate at any hour an attack upon the town. Such a fear was far from groundless to men and women upon whose minds were indelibly stamped the terrible memories of Far West and Haun's Mill. Besides, the charter of the city, the bulwark of their rights and liberties, was assailed. That swept away, and what evils might not follow, what vices flourish unchecked, in the midst of their peaceable, temperate and, for all that was said to the contrary, moral and virtuous com- munity.
Such was the Mormon view of the situation. Yet not the Saints alone, but respectable people of all parties felt outraged. There were those who longed to take the law into their own hands, and raze the Expositor building to the ground.
The Mormon leaders, however, would not sanction mobocracy. They had suffered too much from it themselves to countenance it in their followers. Legal measures, in lieu of lawless force, were therefore employed against the Expositor. The City Council of Nauvoo convened in regular session on Saturday the 8th of June,
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Mayor Joseph Smith presiding, and an adjourned session was held on Monday, the 10th. The character, aims and objects of the libelous sheet and its publishers were fully ventilated. Among those who spoke to the question were the Mayor, Aldermen George W. Harris, Samuel Bennett, Elias Smith, Stephen Markham, Orson Spencer, and Councilors Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, William W. Phelps, Edward Hunter, Levi and Phinehas Richards and Benjamin Warring- ton. Willard Richards was clerk of the Council. By an almost unanimous vote,-Councilor Warrington, a non-Mormon, alone dissenting,-the Nauvoo Expositor was declared a public nuisance, and the Mayor instructed to have it abated without delay. Councilor Warrington, it should be added, only opposed summary action. He considered the paper libelous, and was in favor of heavily fining its publishers. On the night of June 10th, by order of the Mayor, City Marshal John P. Greene and a force of police destroyed the printing press, pied the type, and burned the published sheets of the Expositor found upon its premises, in the streets of Nauvoo. The leaders of the opposition party immediately left the city.
On the 12th of June Constable David Bettisworth came from Carthage to Nauvoo and arrested on a charge of riot the following named persons : Joseph Smith, Samuel Bennett, John Taylor, William W. Phelps, Hyrum Smith, John P. Greene, Stephen Perry, Dimick B. Huntington, Jonathan Dunham, Stephen Markham, William Edwards, Jonathan Harmon, Jesse P. Harmon, John Lytle, Joseph W. Coolidge, Harvey D. Redfield, O. P. Rockwell and Levi Richards. The com- plaint was sworn to by Francis M. Higbee, and referred to the abatement of the Nauvoo Expositor.
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