Supplement to 
the New and Everlasting
Covenant of Marriage


An Interpretation of 
CELESTIAL MARRIAGE 
PLURAL MARRIAGE 
PRIESTHOOD 

By J. W. MUSSER of Salt Lake City, Utah 
With J. L. BROADBENT As Collaborator 


[P.3] For it shall come to pass that the inhabitants of Zion shall judge all things pertaining to Zion; and liars and hypocrites shall be proved by them, and they who are not apostles and prophets shall be known. 

And even the bishop, who is a judge, and his counselors, if they are not faithful in their stewardship, shall be condemned, and others shall be planted in their stead.
     (D. & C. 64:3840) 




[P.5] CONTENTS 

Chapter 1
Ivins / Wilson Letters

Chapter 2
Supporting Documentary Facts

Chapter 3
Must the Word of the Lord be Ratified?

Chapter 4
Subterfuges, Camouflages & Twistings

Chapter 5
The Kingdom and Church of God

Chapter 6

Priesthood Defined

Chapter 7
Persecution from Within




[P.9] FOREWORD 

The necessity for a supplement to the Brochure  the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage  must rest on the assumption of related topics having been presented and which were not treated, or  if treated, not adequately  in the original publication. 

Continued efforts of some of the leading brethren to discredit and humiliate a class of Saints who are sincerely striving to live the laws of heaven, make necessary this work  a work of admonition, protest and warning. Not only are we concerned about the individual who is being unjustly attacked, but the principle involved calls for a defensive fight  indeed, it is primarily the principle that now invokes our support. 

A recent letter addressed to an inquiring couple, by President Anthony W. Ivins, in which most sacred principles of truth with supporting revelations from the Lord, were questioned even to the point of repudiation, is the major necessity of this present defense. Error is abroad in the land. Its deceptive powers are seductive and many are being led astray. So subtle and cunning are the ways of the Adversary, that the very elect, if it were possible, would be deceived. "O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Possibly never before in the history of mankind has this prophecy of Isaiah found a more literal fulfillment. 

In circulating this work, we are well aware of the charges of apostasy and kindred sins that will be hurled against us by some members of the Church,especially those who do not think for themselves; these will charge us with an effort to destroy the Church. Such, however, as will be apparent to all fairminded Saints, is farthest from our 

P.10 

minds. The real Church  the Church of the First Born  is as dear to the hearts of the author and his immediate associates, as it can possibly be to any other earthly being. The author believes profoundly in every revelation that God has given, and with which he is acquainted, either in this or previous dispensations. That Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God and stands at the head of this dispensation is cardinal with him, which holds good with every rightful successor of the Prophet. It is in the interest of these truths and the protection of the sacred foundation on which they rest, that we now contend. 


The constant, ruthless attack of the leaders against men and women conscientiously living a divine law, in accordance with the commands of Goda law which the leaders themselves, in times past, have advocated as essential to salvation  we hold to be indefensible. 

This work has also afforded us an opportunity of more fully outlining the functions of Priesthood and its relationship to the Church and Kingdom and to mankind. This one feature alone, we feel, justifies the effort. 

If the manner of our treatment be objected to as too severe, our answer is that disease must be treated at the sourcethe cause of the ailment must be the seat of attack. Little good may be accomplished by ignoring the cause and administering sedatives for temporary relief only, as, in our opinion, has been the case for many years. Harsh as the treatment may appear to some, it is the Lord's method and the results will justify the means. Neither are we blind to the crudeness of our effortthat it lacks polish and literary technique may he admitted. However, we are giving the best that we have and this is all God requires. In our weakness we find comfort in the words of Isaiah: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he (the Lord) speak to this people." Such lips and tongue, we feel, are now speaking 

P.11 

through this writing,That we are championing the Lord's cause, is satisfying to us. With his backing we cannot fail. 

The author expresses his grateful thanks to Elder J. L. Broadbent, his collaborator, whose assistance and wise counsel in putting forth this humble treatise has been indispensable. He also remembers in gratitude the valued assistance of others in the building of this work, which work is commended to the honest consideration of all people. 

THE AUTHOR. 




[P.13] CHAPTER ONE 

IVINSWILSON LETTERS

The present chapter will deal exclusively with the Ivins' letter mentioned in the introduction, and a very scholarly reply thereto by Elder Leroy A. Wilson of Salt Lake City, both of which communications are produced in extenso. 

Letter of Anthony W. Ivins
Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints
Office of the First Presidency
Salt Lake City, Utah
February 10, 1934. 


(Name and Address Omitted) 

The following is my answer to your letter received some time ago, which had no date. 

I am writing this to your husband as well as to you, and pray that it may result in good to both of you on the question involved. 

I will answer your questions in the order in which you ask them. 

A purported revelation given to Wilford Woodruff, January 26th, 1880. President Woodruff at the time referred to was in Arizona, traveling under an assumed name, to evade the officers who were beginning at that time the prosecution of certain representative men who were living with plural families. I have gone over the personal journal of President Woodruff, which he kept while in Arizona, and find the following: He says that on the night of January 26th, 1880, he was sleeping in the tent of a sheepherder, that he had been thinking of the suffering which would come to the members of the Church, and reading the Doc 

P.14 

trine and Covenants. He felt particularly concerned regarding Brother George Reynolds, who at the time was in prison in Detroit. He slept, but awoke during the night, and saw the trouble which was coming to the Church, and the necessity for the Saints to put their houses in order and keep the commandments of the Lord, and also saw the judgments which would come upon the nation because of their lack of faith and the persecution of the Church. 

I found nothing in his journal which corresponds to the socalled revelation. 

Soon after this President Woodruff came to St. George, and from that point went to Salt Lake accompanied by Apostle Erastus Snow. Following the journal of President Woodruff he tells us that on April 5th, 1880, at the meeting of the Presidency and Council of Twelve, a certain revelation given to him in the wilderness of Arizona was discussed and received. 

As President Woodruff returned from his sojourn in Arizona, he remained for a time in St. George. He called together at the Temple, a number of brethren who were in his confidence, of whom I was one. He told us his experiences in Arizona, referred to in this socalled revelation, administered to those present special temple ordinances, and gave us direct instructions. He said positively that what he told us were his opinions as the Lord had manifested to him that which was about to come to pass. There was nothing in his instructions to correspond with this socalled revelation. 

The revelation given to John Taylor at the time that George Teasdale and Heber J. Grant were chosen as members of the Quorum of the Twelve did not require President Grant to obey the law of plural marriage, as you state, he was already living it at the time. The revelation did state that Seymour B. Young might be appointed to the presiding quorum of Seventy if he would obey the law. 

P.15 

The latter purported revelation of John Taylor (of 1886) has no standing in the church. I have searched carefully, and all that can be found is a piece of paper found among President Taylor's effects after his death. It was written in pencil and only a few paragraphs which had no signature at all. It was unknown to the Church until members of his own family claimed to have found it among his papers. It was never presented or discussed as a revelation by the presiding authorities of the Church. 

The fact is that neither of these pretended revelations (1880 and 1886) has any purport whatsoever so far as the Church is concerned. They were never published or presented to the body of the Church for approval, and consequently if such statements were made they have never been in force. 

The fact is the history of President Woodruff was written and prepared for publication by Matthias F. Cowley and J. M. Tanner, two of the foremost advocates of the continuance of the practice of plural marriage, both of whom were dealt with because of the attitude they assumed. These two men sowed the seeds of dissention and disloyalty to the Presidency and other authorities of the Church, and to the government of the United States, from Canada to Mexico. We are reaping today the harvest from the seed sown by them. 

Naturally these people desiring that others be brought into the same unhappy condition that they occupy collect from the writings and spoken words of the presiding authorities of the Church, those things which appear to justify their contention, but carefully refrain from publishing that which has been said against it. For example: in January, 1880, according to the pamphlet which you sent to me, President Woodruff received the socalled revelation in Arizona. At that time he was a member of the Council of Twelve. Ten years later, when he was the President of the Church, and by virtue of that calling the mouth 

P.16 

piece of the Lord to its members, he made the following public statement: On the day the Manifesto was issued he wrote in his journal the following: "I have arrived at the point in the history of my life as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, where I am under the necessity of acting for the temporal salvation of the Church, and after praying to the Lord, and feeling inspired, I have issued the following proclamation, which is sustained by my counselors and the Twelve Apostles": 

"Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise, and I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latterday Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the laws of the land." 

This manifesto was signed by President Woodruff as President of the Church. 

At the October Conference of the Church following the publication of the Manifesto issued by President Woodruff, the document was read before the assembled congregation, after which Lorenzo Snow, at the time President of the Twelve, arose and made the following motion: "I move that, recognizing Wilford Woodruff as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, the only man on the earth at the present time who holds the keys of the sealing ordinances, we consider him fully authorized by virtue of his position to issue the Manifesto which has been read in our hearing, and which is dated September 24, 1890, and that as a church in General Conference assembled, we accept his declaration concerning plural marriage as authoritative and binding." This motion was unanimously approved by the congregation. 

After the vote approving the Manifesto had been recorded, President Woodruff, addressing the congregation, said: 

P.17 

"I want to say to all Israel the step which I have taken in issuing this Manifesto has not been done without earnest prayer before the Lord. I am not ignorant of the feelings that have been engendered through the course that I have pursued, but I have done my duty." 

At the General Conference of the Church, April, 1904, President Joseph F. Smith, who had succeeded President Lorenzo Snow as President of the Church, made the following statement to the assembled congregation: 

"Inasmuch as there are numerous reports in circulation that plural marriages have been entered into contrary to the official declaration of President Woodruff of September 24th, 1890, commonly called the Manifesto, issued by President Woodruff, and adopted by the Church at General Conference, October 6th, 1890, which forbade any marriage violative of the law of the land, I, Joseph F. Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, do hereby affirm and declare that no such marriages have been solemnized with the sanction, consent or knowledge of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. And I hereby announce that all such marriages are prohibited, and if any officer or member of the Church shall assume to solemnize or enter into any such marriage he will be liable to be dealt with according to the rules and regulations thereof, and excommunicated therefrom." 

The following resolution was presented to the congregation, and unanimously adopted: "Resolved, that we, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, in General Conference assembled, hereby approve and endorse the statement and declaration of President Joseph F. Smith, just made to this Conference, concerning plural marriages, and will support the courts of the Church in the enforcement thereof." 

Again at the October Conference, 1910, Joseph F. Smith, Anthon H. Lund and John Henry Smith, then the acting First Presidency of the Church, addressed a letter to each of the Stakes of the Church, which contained the full text of the statement made by President Joseph F. Smith at the General Conference, April, 1904. In this letter the Presidents of Stakes were instructed to notify the members 

P.18 

of the Church in the Stakes over which they presided, to report any cases in which a person had entered into a pretended marriage violative of the civil law, or taught others to do so, and to take action against such persons and excommunicate them from the Church. 

On January 31st, 1914, Presidents Joseph F. Smith, Anthon H. Lund and Charles W. Penrose, who at that time constituted the Presidency of the Church, sent a similar letter to all of the Presidents of Stakes in the Church. 

It is shown in the foregoing that each President of the Church, following John Taylor to Joseph F. Smith, denounced the fact that plural marriage, as it is being taught and practiced by a few misguided members of the Church, is unauthorized by the Church. They did all they could to bring the people to a realization of the fact that they must be obedient to the civil law. It is a fundamental doctrine of the Church. These people who are in open rebellion against the Church, claiming that the Church has apostatized and the presiding authorities of it have departed from the way of the Lord, attach very great importance to what President Woodruff may have said when he was a member of the Council of the Twelve, but entirely overlook his declaration and statement as president of the Church. The words spoken by men which were never presented to the people or approved by them are considered as being binding and used in order to establish, or endeavor to establish, the fact that a decree of the Lord cannot be changed and must be carried out regardless of circumstances. 

The Lord himself takes the same attitude that President Woodruff took, which is illustrated in the following quotation from the Doctrine and Covenants. In 1832, in the revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Kirtland, the Lord makes the following statement, after referring to a city which is to be built in Jackson County, Missouri: 

"Verily, this is the word of the Lord, that the city of New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the Saints, beginning 

P.19 

at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. 

"For verily this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house." 

Nine years later referring to this revelation, speaking again to the people of the Church, the Lord says: 


"Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go to with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings. 

"And the iniquity and transgression of my holy laws and commandments, I will visit upon the heads of those who hindered my work, unto the third and fourth generation, so long as they repent not, and hate me, saith the Lord God. 

"And this I make an example unto you for your consolation concerning all those who have been commanded to do a work and have been hindered by the hands of their enemies, and by oppression, saith the Lord your God." 

This revelation has direct application to existing conditions. From the time the first revelation was given until the second, conditions had entirely changed. There were no means by which the center Stake of Zion could be redeemed at that period except by defying the adversaries of the Church who in their power would have crushed it had the center Stake of Zion not been vacated. The Lord makes this an example to us in all things. He has imposed upon us the responsibility of obedience to civil law and has warned us against its violation. Therefore when the civil law prohibits the thing which is being done we are required to obey it and abide the time when the way will be opened by which it can be properly accomplished. 

I do not suppose that what I have saidand it is but a small portion of what might be said upon the subjectwill be sufficient to change the attitude of deluded men who 

P.20 

have been led astray by the temptations of the evil one and who will continue to advocate and practice this doctrine which the Church has said is suspended. 

We are very much in the condition that the Nephite people were during the ministry of the prophet Jacob among the Nephite people. Plural marriage had been practiced among the Israelitish people, from the days of Moses. Lehi and his people brought it with them from Jerusalem to the promised land, then came a time when Jacob says: 

"Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like them of old. 

"Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the words of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; 

"For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts. 

"Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes." 


Notwithstanding the fact that the plurality of wives had been practiced by these people from the beginning, they were in transgression if they failed to be obedient to the word of the Lord as it was delivered to them by Jacob. 

Following the quotation which has been made, the Lord said: 

"But if I will raise up a righteous seed unto me, I will command my people." 

That is precisely the condition the Church is in today. Whenever the time comes for the building up of the center Stake of Zion, the Lord will manifest it to the Church through the channels of the Priesthood who preside over it, and if the time comes when the Lord in like manner commands a return to the practice of plural marriage it will be done in the same way. In the meantime our duty is to obey the law. 

P.21 

At the October session of the General Conference of the Church, 1911, President Joseph F. Smith, speaking upon this subject said: 

"Another thing, as we have announced in previous conferences, as it was announced by President Woodruff, as it was announced by President Snow, and as it was announced by me and my brethren, and confirmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, plural marriages have ceased in this Church. There isn't a man today in this Church or anywhere else outside of it who has authority to solemnize a plural marriage, not one. There is no man or woman in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints who is authorized to contract a plural marriage. It is not permitted." 

Discussing the matter further President Smith made the following statement: 

"Now in reference to this I want to make this distinction, for it is a distinction with a difference, and that is this: I don't mean to interfere with men who had their wives before the Manifesto was issued by President Woodruff. Men who entered into this covenant when it was the law of the Church, or who took wives under the authority of the presiding Priesthood of the Church. We do not mean to interfere with them. To them I say take care of your wives. If you do not, you are not genuine men at all." 

It appears to me,     , that I have said sufficient to convince any reasonable person, any person who enjoys the Spirit of the Gospel and understands the order of the Church, that the continuation of the practice of plural marriage must cease, and remain in suspension until the Lord may properly speak. I know there are men, and perhaps women, who do not accept the statements of the presidencies of the Church as quoted. I know there are men, and perhaps women, who will not be governed by the regulations that have been established by the Church. There are men infatuated with women, lecherous men, men who during their lives as members of the Church, many of them, never were active in it, never did obey its regulations, which interferes with their own personal desires. I know of no people who have been made happy, who have been made prosperous, and whose lives have been made more enjoyable 

P.22 

because of entering into or advocacy of this principle. I expect the time to come when the civil law will enter into this question, making the lives of these people more miserable than they already are, for that appears to be the only manner in which the system can be stayed. 

I appeal to you and to your husband and to others to retain your fellowship in the Church, to do your duty as members of it, and if you do you will be happy and prosperous in that condition, but to take the other course will result in broken hearts, wasted resources and unhappy lives. 

I remain, 

Your Brother, 

ANTHONY W. IVINS 

The Reply

By Elder Leroy A. Wilson
Salt Lake City, Utah,
April 6th, 1934, 

Dear Mr. and Mrs.   : 

I appreciate very much your kindness in permitting me to read your correspondence with Pres. Anthony W. Ivins of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. I journeyed to your city on my return from Los Angeles especially to see this letter. 

I have always claimed your father as a friend, and was perhaps instrumental in some small way in enlisting his interest in certain doctrines of your faith. 

May I quote briefly from your "Juvenile Instructor" and "Improvement Era": 

"Whoever is afraid of submitting any question, religious or civil, to the test of free discussion is more in love with his own opinions than with the truth. The man who cannot listen to an argument which opposes his views either has a weak position or is a weak 

P.23 

defender of it. No opinion that cannot stand discussion or criticism is worth holding."(J. In., Vol. 27, p. 90Imp. Era, Vol. 23, p. 204). 

In this light I pray that we may reason together concerning these matters. 

The points at issue which seem to trouble your minds can be summarized as follows: 

(a) The genuineness of the circulated revelation attributed to Wilford Woodruff, and claimed to have been received by him, while an Apostle, at Sunset, Arizona, January 26, 1880. 

(b) The authenticity of the circulated revelation attributed to have been received by President John Taylor, September 26, 1886. 

(c) Intent, meaning and legal aspects of the Woodruff Manifesto of 1890. 

(d) Application of the verses quoted from the 124th Sec., D. & C., concerning the abandonment of a work when the enemies of this people prevent its consummation. 

(e) Importance of the 1882 revelation to President John Taylor. 

(f) Legal status of plural marriage. 

(g) Character and happiness of men who have entered into the principle of plural marriage since the Manifesto. 

If I may have your kind indulgence I wish to briefly discuss each of these points and make an effort to bring logic and reason, as well as direct testimony, to bear upon the confusion I know must exist, and see if we can't in a kindly manner clarify the subjects involved. 

I know Anthony W. Ivins to be a man of splendid character and reputation. He occupies an elevated position in your Church. He has proven to be a man of sound judgment in many matters, and his word concerning direct 

P.24 

knowledge is considered good and would be accepted by both Mormon and nonMormon. He is also a student of history, and as a rule wellposted on any subject he discusses. 

(a) The 1880 Woodruff Revelation: President Ivins acknowledges that Wilford Woodruff did receive a revelation during his sojourn in the wilderness of Arizona. His direct testimony concerning this remarkable event is most interesting. It gives added weight to the testimony of others, and is historically important since Ivins is a contemporary. 

He states, however, that he finds nothing in Willford Woodruff's private journal to correspond to the revelation you sent him a copy of. Then will he kindly furnish us a copy of the revelation he states, on April 5th, 1880, was presented, discussed and received by the Council of Twelve, that we might make comparison with the one obtained from his "Life" and see wherein they differ? Certainly, somewhere, there must be copies of this revelation. For the sake of accuracy let's have the facts, and if our copies are incorrect we will welcome the opportunity of correcting them. 

On arriving in Salt Lake City I sought to run down the source from which I had obtained my copy of this purported revelation, since this was the first time I had ever seen it disputed. 

Matthew F. Cowley, a police officer (sanitary inspector), Salt Lake City, was approached. He stated definitely that he had read the revelation in Wilford Woodruff's handwriting in Woodruff's private journal, and that the copy in question was substantially correct. Cowley was formerly a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, who resigned his position to satisfy the demands of powerful United States Senators (Beveridge and others) that Reed Smoot might be seated as United States Senator from Utah. 

A. Milton Musser was formerly an associate Church historian. About 1908 he permitted his son, Joseph W. Musser, to copy this revelation, and certain other items, 

P.25 

from Wilford Woodruff's journal. I approached Mr. Musser and secured a certified copy from the copy he made direct in 1908. I am enclosing this copy, certified to by a notary public, for your examination. 

It is a very simple matter to permit our comparing this copy with President Woodruff's journal, which Ivins gives us to understand is in the Church Headquarters. We respectfully request that this permission be granted. (b) 1886 Revelation to President John Taylor: Concerning this 1886 revelation we have more direct testimony. 

President Ivins states that he did find "a piece of paper found among President Taylor's effects after his death, written in pencil and only a few paragraphs which had no signature at all" . . . In the cause of completeness and fairness why does he not tell you what was on this scrap of paper? Will President Ivins kindly furnish us with a copy of what he found on this scrap of paper, either a certified copy or a photographic copy, preferably the latter? 

I have in my possession a photograph of a scrap of paper in President Taylor's handwriting (supposedly). Without making comparison I do not know whether or not it is the same scrap of paper which President Ivins refers to, but I am ready to make direct comparison. I have called on him and others to make this comparison, but to date they have failed to do so. Is there anything to fear in tracing down such evidence? 

I secured this photograph, myself, from a photostat of the original. I also have this photostat. It was secured from members of the Taylor family. They told me it was authentic, and was photographed directly from the original copy before Rodney Badger turned it over to the Church Historian's office. John W. Taylor, son of President Taylor, found this "scrap of paper", he tells us, by following an inspiration in looking through some of his father's old papers. He has also testified to several that his father (Pres. Taylor) 

P.26 

gave him a copy of this revelation on his deathbed and placed him under a covenant that he would do all in his power the remainder of his life to further this principle and see that it did not perish from the face of the earth. 

I also found men who claimed to have been with President Taylor on the night he claimed to have received this revelation. I have listened to their testimonies and have secured their affidavits, which may be examined by any interested parties. 

Daniel Bateman has a good reputation for truthfulness. He has lived a clean, honest life for fourscore years. Following is the affidavit he gave me: 

"On September 27, 1886, I was at a meeting at the home of John Woolley at Centerville in Davis County, Utah, as one of the guards of President John Taylor, who was then at the home of Brother Woolley, on the underground. Others who were present were John Woolley, Lorin C. Woolley, President George Q. Cannon, Brother Nuttall, and there were others. 

"The Manifesto had been prepared for President Taylor to sign. He had made it a matter of prayer, and the next morning in addressing himself to the subject, he was lifted off the floor and a halo of light was around his body: and he made the statement that he would suffer his hand to he severed from his body rather than place his signature to that document, and rather than endorse it he would suffer his tongue to be torn from its roots in his mouth. 

"He asked those present if they were willing to consecrate all that they had to the furtherance of the cause of righteousnss in case it is requested of them. They responded they were. He asked if they were willing to give up their lives for the truth in the event it was required. They answered they were. 

"He then placed them under covenant to uphold and sustain the principles of the Gospel, particularly the principle of the Patriarchal Order of Marriage, from thence on as long as they lived. He said: 'Some of you will live to be handled for sustaining and upholding this principle for which we are now in hiding. Some of you will live to see the time when there will scarcely be a family among the Latterday Saints that will be united on all the principles of the Gospel.' He said the time will come when onehalf of the people will apostatize over the principle of Celestial Marriage, and perhaps onehalf of the other half. 

"He counseled us not to begin our work until told to do so by proper authority. That much of the instruction he was giving 

P.27 

we would forget, but that at the proper time it would come back to us." 


Brother Bateman also stated that twelve or fourteen years ago President Joseph F. Smith had counseled him and Lorin C. Woolley that the time had now come to teach the principles of Patriarchal Marriage to the Latterday Saints, and since then they had been doing so, both he and Lorin having been handled by the authorities as a result. He stated that the prediction of President Taylor that all things would be brought back to their memory in the proper time, had literally been fulfilled. He also told of the very strong impression these instructions had made upon him and bore his testimony to the fact that President John Taylor was moved in his remarks by the Spirit of the Lord to such an extent that those in his presence could feel it all through their system. And when he got through talking his body rested back on the floor of the room. 

Others have made similar affidavits. There were thirteen people present in the eighthour meeting that President Taylor held after receiving this revelation. It might be possible to have one man lie about such an event, but it is hardly logical to believe that several people would all lie on such an important matter and never change their testimony. I have heard several of those present at this meeting bear their testimony over a period of years, each one of them several times, and there has never been any substantial variation in their statements. This testimony is just as remarkable as that of the eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Two of these men are living today, and I am informed there is probably a third, although he was quite a young boy when this event occurred. 

I also went to two of John Taylor's sons, men whom I had known for many years and knew to be men of integrity, whose words are accepted by their friends and busi 

P.28 

ness associates, and whose direct testimony would be accepted in any court. Both of these men told me they knew the copy exhibited to them to be a true copy and also stated they knew their father had received this revelation. 

Apostle John W. Taylor testified on many occasions that his prophet father called him to his deathbed, and there President Taylor gave his son a copy of this revelation, told him all about it and instructed him to see to it that as long as he lived he would advance the cause of this principle, and that he and others would see to it that not a year passed without children being born under this covenant. . . . John W. Taylor bore this testimony to many individuals who can be cited, but he bore it in no uncertain terms to the Council of the Twelve Apostles, many of whom are now living who were present in that memorable meeting. 

President Ivins makes much of the fact that Matthew Cowley and J. M. Tanner took a stand against the Church in this principle, and infers for that reason their scholarly works were colored. . . . I have known Matthew Cowley for many years, it has been a pleasure to have known him. I have received inspiration to live a better life from this man. So have thousands of others. Never in our acquaintance have I ever heard him make a disparaging remark concerning the Church which he dearly loves, and never have I heard him belittle the General Authorities, nor try to lessen their influence, but I have a letter from him in which he states that it was revealed to him that those who sought to belittle the authorities and lessen their influence in their work would not injure these men but would have their own influence lessened instead. Cowley has been one of the ablest men this Church has ever produced, and one of the most inspirational speakers. He has swayed audiences from Canada to Mexico with the power God has blessed him with on many occasions. 

P.29 


Furthermore, I wish here to give a testimony that God was not displeased with the sacrifice both Cowley and Apostle Taylor made for His law. President Joseph F. Smith sent for both Cowley and Taylor to proceed to Washington to give their testimony during the Smoot Investigation in 1905 by the United States Senate. Francis M. Lyman went to Canada. He stopped at President Brandley's place and asked for a team and rig to drive over to Raymond, where John W. Taylor lived. He told Taylor he wanted him to go to Washington. Taylor said that if his president wanted him to go he would go but he would tell the facts. Lyman drove back to Stirling and stayed at Pres. Theodore Brandley's place that evening. The next morning he arose early and asked for the same team and rig, and drove over to Raymond and caught Taylor on his way to catch the train. Lyman told him not to go. When asked for his authority he replied that President Woodruff had visited him during the night and told him (Lyman) that the Lord did not want Taylor or Cowley to go to Washington, that they had suffered enough, that they had done nothing wrong and that it wasn't His will for them to be further humiliated. Lyman told this also to President Brandley of the Alberta Stake. A telegram was sent Cowley in Mexico not to proceed to Washington. Many people are living today who were witnesses to this incident. Cowley and Taylor were fair enough to resign from the Quorum of Twelve to permit the seating of Reed Smoot in the United States Senate, then why should they be so bitterly assailed afterwards? It is true they did much to further the principle of plural marriage after the Church took a stand officially against it, but they were sincere in the matter and honestly believed they were doing God's will and keeping their covenants. Can't men be honest antagonists and differ in their opinions without being bitter toward each other? 

P.30 

President Ivins, himself, in his office in the Administration Building, told me and another that he knew this revelation to have been received by President Taylor, and offered to go upstairs to the Historian's Office and show us the original. I told him he needn't bother as I had a photographic copy of it, and had seen it there several years previous, to which he replied: "then you know that what I say is true." He told us, however, that the revelation had not been voted upon officially and was therefore not binding. I told him I didn't care about thatthat all I was interested in was to know whether or not God had said those things. He replied that, of course, that was the important thing, and assured me that I could depend on it that God had said it. The Official Statement of June 17, 1933, does not sound like President Ivins. It sounds much more like James E. Talmadge. 

Again, the best evidence of a revelation is the revelation itself. The language and contents of this revelation of 1886 is its best evidence of genuineness. Read it prayerfully and then testify whether or not the Spirit burns conviction within your soul that it is the truth. 


(c) Woodruff Manifesto of 1890. Inasmuch as the Lord gave President Woodruff a revelation ten months before the passage of the Manifesto, in which the Priesthood were advised to make no further pledges which would place them in jeopardy, and further warned them that "your enemies seek your destruction and the destruction of my people", it is unreasonable that the Manifesto can be classified in any degree as a revelation. Nor does President Ivins claim it to be such. He merely quotes President Woodruff to the effect that he (Woodruff) felt inspired, but I would like to quote from the speech which President Woodruff made the day the Manifesto was voted on in Conference. He told the priesthood to go to their secret chambers and enquire of the God of Heaven, and understanding would be 

P.31 

given them of why this action was taken. If President Woodruff had received a clear mandate from Heaven to discontinue the practice of plural marriages he never would have used such language. He would have plainly stated so in no uncertain terms. It would not have been necessary to have the priesthood go to their secret chambers to receive individual testimony of why the Manifesto was issued. However, scores have testified that they have gone to their secret chambers, and the God of Heaven has revealed the truth to them and they have been made happy because of following what was revealed to them. 

Other men have testified that President Penrose told them that he wrote the Manifesto. It is certain that Pat Lannen, Bartch, Zane and others of the Gentile opposition had something to do with making slight changes in the wording. Frank J. Cannon, who wanted to bind the Church to the Manifesto, called it a "triple plated revelation." 

This Manifesto, in similar form to that which President Woodruff signed, was presented to President John Taylor on the evening (afternoon) of the day on which this 1886 revelation was given to President Taylor. A delegation comprising George Q. Cannon, Hyrum B. Clawson, Franklin S. Richards and others called on President Taylor and asked him to sign it. He refused. They finally asked him to take it to the Lord. It is claimed the revelation referred to above resulted, and that next day President Taylor stated he would not sign it but that his successor would. He became very eloquent in stating he would rather have his tongue torn from his mouth than sanction such a document and would rather have his good right arm torn from its sockets than sign such a document. 

That President Woodruff did not intend the Manifesto to entirely stop plural marriages is evidenced by the fact that he permitted several people to enter this relation after 

P.32 

the Manifesto. I do not think that even President Ivins will dispute this statement. 

Furthermore, President Joseph F. Smith testified before the Smoot Investigating Committee that he had had eleven children by five wives in violation of the Manifesto, the rule of the Church and the law of the land. He returned to Utah and paid a fine of $300 in Judge Morris L. Ritchie's Court for this "offense". (Also see "Gospel Doctrine" pp. 507512, "Laws of God and Laws of the Land," by Joseph F. Smith. 

The whole essence of the Manifesto is contained in the concluding sentence: "And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latterday Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land." It can be shown that a man may have several wives without disregarding this advice. Permit me to explain. 


When the Federal Constitution was framed the several States did not confer on the Federal Government any right to legislate concerning marriage. This remained in the people and is strictly a state function. The proof of this is clearly shown in the attempts in recent years to secure a Constitutional Amendment permitting a uniform divorce law, and the attempts years ago to secure a Constitutional Amendmen prohibiting polygamy. The enemies of this people and this principle knew they had not gained much in the 1879 Supreme Court Decision, nor the Woodruff Manifesto, nor testimony before the Mastery in Chancery, so tried to secure an amendment to our Constitution, which must be ratified by the States. Today we have 48 different sets of marriage laws and 48 different sets of divorce laws. They give most attorneys who attempt to master them the nightmare. 

Our people popularly refer to the EdmundsTucker law. There is no such law. Both the Edmunds and Tucker amendments were passed many years after the Supreme Court made its famous decision. The laws which should be referred to are the various AntiPolygamy laws passed prior to 1877, 

P.33 

chief of which was the old Cullum Bill of 1862. So you see if our people violated the law they have been doing it a very long time. But I wish to make it even more striking than this! 

The law under discussion could only pertain to Territories, and that is the only reason it had any force or effect in Utah, because Utah remained a territory until 1896. Now don't you see why the wise men of our State wanted to get Statehood, and worked so hard for it? Most of the good men of Utah were polygamists, and they knew that Statehood would stop their prosecution and give them protection. Of course there were other reasons also why we wanted Statehood, but this was a very important reason. The sad thing is that after we received Statehood the antipolygamists among our OWN people defeated the great advantage we had secured. 

Even today, if the Mormon people want to practice plural marriage, openly and in the form given them by Divine Revelation, they may do so. They have the power to pass such laws in Utah, and the Federal Government would be powerless to interfere. I want to give you a very good preccedent that this is correct. I can furnish many decisions affirming this, and if the capable Church attorneys want to debate the matter and go to the bottom of it, I will be pleased to give them further information. 

The one case I refer to is that of Arizona. When she was admitted to the Union, William Howard Taft was President of the United States. President Taft didn't like Arizona's initiative and referendum law, and required her to put in her enabling act an agreement that she would forever repeal this law, just as Utah was required to agree that she would place in her Constitution a law forever prohibiting polygamous marriages. But Arizona acted on her rights and no sooner was a State than she placed the initiative and referendum law back on the books. A test case 

P.34 


resulted and went up to the United States Supreme Court, and by the time a decision was to be made Taft was out of the presidential chair and back in the Supreme Court as Chief Justice. He wrote a very able decision. Although strongly opposed to the popular recall of judges he nevertheless upheld Arizona's rights to pass any law, no matter what agreement or bargain she made for Statehood, which did not conflict with the United State Constitution. He even referred to Utah's case and inferred that had Utah seen fit she, too, could have overcome the bar inflicted by the Enabling Act. You see a State is not exactly bound by what a Territory may agree to. When she becomes a state her status changes, and she has equal rights with any other states, no matter how long they may have been states. 

The deplorable facts which must be faced are that the Evans bill was introduced in our State Legislature several times to do this very thing, and each time was defeated by a Mormon majority. Let's not say any more that we are compelled to abandon plural marriages. Rather let us be fair and say to the world that we have apostatized from this principle, and don't want it any more. Certainly, in this day and age, no one is compelling us to forego its practice. 

And in many states of the Union a man may have several commonlaw wives without fear of successful prosecution. Utah Mormons face a shame they will never entirely live down in that this State not only has laws against plural marriages but also does not recognize the commonlaw marriage. However, even under these conditions prosecutions are almost impossible. 

The Courts have uniformly recognized heirship of children born to wives not legally married to their husbands. 

(d) 124th Section. This revelation, or the verses which President Ivins quotes, apply to the building of the Temple at Jackson County. They clearly apply to a 

P.35 

work, and surely not to an eternal and everlasting principle. God has told us this principle was framed before the foundations of the world were laid and that it is eternal in its nature. Then how could even He excuse men from living it, unless they were willing to forego the glory to be received from its practice. See Pres. Smith's discourse on this, above referred to, which answers President Ivins far better than I can do so. 

The idea that plural marriage can be put on the shelf by earthly authority, and taken down again at will, is absurd. Might as well say that if you carry your arm in a sling because you are required to you can afterward secure the blessings of a strong arm derived from exercise. If men fail to keep God's commandments during the days of their probation they simply lose the blessings predicated on obedience to that law. Plural marriage is biologically correct, and this is probably the greatest endorsement placed upon it, since man is a Divine creation. Then if men go contrary to their natures and defy Nature's mandates they surely will pay the penalty and miss the blessings they might have obtained had they fulfilled the measure of their creation. It is all so simple we wonder why it is necessary to engage in lengthy arguments and split infinitives to prove by man's words that which is so divinely evident. 

The quotation from the Book of Mormon is beside the point, since Jacob was not condemning plural marriage, or rather the Law of Abraham, but whoredoms committed because of that which was written concerning David and Solomon; but remember this prophet does not bring into reproach the practices inspired by that which is written concerning righteous Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. There is quite a difference! 

(e) Importance of the 1882 Revelation. We need not seek any proof of this revelation, since President Grant has publicly acknowledged it many times and since it has been 

P.36 

published in at least one edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. 

Wilford Woodruff, under date of October 13th and 14th, has this to say about this revelation and the discussions which were had concerning it: 

"We met in council at Pres. Taylor's office. We heard the Revelation read in which George Teasdale and Heber J. Grant were called to fill the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Seymour B. Young to fill the vacancy in the First Presidency of Seventies. 

(Next day) "We held a meeting with the Presidency, Twelve Apostles, and the Presidents of Stakes, Remarks were made by Pres. Taylor. Then the revelation was read. George Q. Cannon . . . said, "How can we teach the people any law or principle that we do not live ourselves?" . . . Pres. Taylor told what the Prophet Joseph said to him upon that subject and said that if we do not embrace that principle soon the keys will be turned against us, for if we do not keep the same law that our Heavenly Father has we cannot go with him. The word of the Lord to us was that if we did not obey that law we could not go where our Heavenly Father dwelt. A MAN OBEYING A LOWER LAW IS NOT QUALIFIED TO PRESIDE OVER THOSE WHO KEEP A HIGHER LAW. 

"W. Woodruff said . . . that the reason why the Church and Kingdom of God could not progress if we did not receive the Patriarchal law of Marriage is that it belonged to this dispensation AS WELL AS BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD and any law or ordinance that belongs to this dispensation must be received by the members of the Church or it cannot progress. The leading men of Israel who are presiding over Stakes will have to obey the law of Abraham or they will have to stop. . . . Erastus Snow said that Joseph Smith said that the parable that Jesus spoke of that the man who had one talent and hid it in the earth was the man who had but one wife and would not take another, would have her taken from him and given to one who had more. . . . F. M. Lyman thought it would not do to seal dead women to him." 

This is the best interpretation of this revelation we could possibly secure. I ask that you read the entire revelation, and reflect seriously upon it. 

That this was the meaning as understood by the authorities of that day is shown by the fact that three presidents of stakes were removed because they would not enter the 

P.37 

Law of Abrabam, and every Seventy for many years was required to make a covenant that he would enter the principle before they would ordain him to that office. Seymour B. Young took another wife before he could be ordained to the First Presidency of Seventy. 

One of the most striking aspects of this revelation is that it was given about three and onehalf years after the United States Supreme Court had upheld the Constitutionalty of the AntiPolygamy laws. This brings us to: 

(f) Legal Aspects of Plural Marriage. 

It is very clear that in this revelation God completely ignored the antipolygamy laws and the action of the United States Supreme Court, and commanded his priesthood to disobey this "law of the land." The Edmunds amendment was passed the spring before this revelation, but even that did not stop our Heavenly Father. This clearly shows His utter contempt for these unjust laws.. 

The facts are that those good men of ours who entered plural marriages prior to 1896 broke the Constitutional law of the land. These offenders between the years 1879 and 1896 were truly lawbreakers. They broke far more laws than the fellow who has practiced this principle in some state. Isn't it strange that these lawbreakers were upheld and sustained in their unlawful acts by the Church, while the fellows who have entered it since that date, and at a time when there has been less legal prohibition and less condemnation from the gentile world, are not only condemned officially by our Church, but today they even try to invoke the law of the land against them? Why didn't this people and this Church work to have the bars to living God's laws eliminated, since it is so easy to do so today? 

Furthermore, why should the Church ostracise those who enter this principle in foreign countries where there are no legal restrictions? Isn't it strange that they baptize polygamists into the Church, and yet excommunicate those 

P.38 

in the same nation who enter the principle after they are members? 

(g) Character and Happiness of Men who have Entered into Plural Marriages since the Manifesto. 


Much has been said about these men. They are called liars, apostates, adulterers, and some of these epithets are used by prominent Church officials. It is reported that President Grant in the recent Annual Spring Conference, in priesthood meeting, became nettled at a handbill which was circulated and used similar language. Among other things he stated that none could point to anyone who had entered this principle since its official prohibition who were a pride to any community and that the same could be said of their children. I was not present but several who were have stated to me that these remarks, or to this effect, were made. Of course it is doubted if the body of the Church would sustain such statements, and no doubt President Grant after sober reflection would not do so. It is regrettable that we must deal in scurrilous remarks in a contovesy over any subject, and it is axiomatic that these opponents of this official view of our Church Authorities are entitled to their opinions, and are entitled to have them respected and considered on their merits. Even if they are mistaken they are hardly entitled to this treatment. Many of these men are sincere and have devoted long years to Church work. 

Many years ago Professor Hickman devoted long years to study of the offspring of the Mormon people. His paper was published in the Journal of Heredity and considered a scientific statistical attack of this subject. He proved that the men of polygamous offspring were superior physically and mentally to the men of the offspring of the monogamous Mormon matings. We invite those who attack the offspring since the Manifesto to assist in an extension of this 

P.39 

study to cover this period. We are positive that if they will do so they will confess their error. 

One family can be pointed to, the father of which has been disfellowshipped. Twentysix of his children are college graduates and three have won honors at Eastern universities. They are beautiful specimens of manhood and womanhood. Another large polygamous family has a similar record. Both of these families are active in Church work. 

Just yesterday I conversed with a boy of eighteen who comes from a family of 26, by a father who has been persecuted most vigorously for his practices. It was a pleasure to meet this boy. He is certainly above the average both physically and mentally, and has a splendid spiritual development. I think he would surely be a credit to any community, and there are hundreds of others who would be a credit to their communities. 

Persecution has always been the lot of the faithful. Paul tells us that those who live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The early day Christians were persecuted far worse than any of our people have been. Peter, fleeing for his life, was met by the Christ with his cross upon his shoulder and shown that he should return to Rome and receive his horrible murder. The lot of those who have supported great truths in any age have suffered similar treatment at the hands of misunderstanding bigots. No, the fact that these people are a hiss and a byword, if that is true, is rather in their favor. The fact that they are not upheld and made prominent and popular surely cannot be used against them. If anything it endorses their course. 

The regrettable thing is that the Church officially should turn persecutor, as Ivins indicates may be the course they will pursue, but even this has its parallel in history. The Pilgrim Fathers who fled from religious tyranny, themselves turned and became severe persecutors of those who would not conform to their views. The same ship which 

P.40 

carried them across the Atlantic was later used in conveying slaves. 

The only consolation is that we should be pleased if we are found worthy to suffer persecution for God's laws, if thereby we may bring these truths in plainer relief to the eyes of our fellowmen. The memories of the Christian martyrs has been the greatest motivating force back of Christianity. 

However, God in this day and age has said, many times, that He will fight the battles of those who do His will, and I am sure He will. This people have never taken Him at his word, but have sought by legislation and their vote and official acts to set aside those things God tells us he gave to earth through His choice seer for our refreshing. It appears they have probably feared the enemy more than our God, in their treatment of certain principles, although in other respects they have proven an admirable Godfearing people. But it has been prophesied that this principle will not perish from the earth, and I wish to add my testimony to that of others. 

One of the greatest prophets this Church has ever produced was speaking in the East Bountiful Ward House, during a fastday meeting. His countenance became transparent and he began prophesying. He prophesied that this principle of plural marriage would never be taken from the earth and that courageous souls would be found who would keep it alive until the coming of the Son of Man, and that children would be born in this principle every year. He saw that some were skeptical, so stated to them that a witness would be given them that he spoke by God and not of himself. This witness was that one of the Nephite prophets would visit that ward during the week and leave a blessing. On Thursday, one of the Nephite prophets visited a good sister's home, laid his hands on her head and her throat and blessed her. The woman, although dumb for many years from sickness, regained her voice and has 

P.41 

spoken ever since. He told her he had come to her home in fulfillment of a prophecy uttered in her ward a few days previous. 

Many incidents might be given to show that the practice of this principle in this day and age has Divine favor, but they are so many it would fill a book. 

Truly, "by their fruits ye shall know them" can be said of these refugees of an almost forgotten principle as well as of others. Mingle with them, partake of their spirit, examine their children if you will, see their home life, measure the calibres of them, notice their abilities, see what they do under the handicaps they labor, and decide for yourself if their fruits are not good. Possibly they do not wear the finest clothes, but remember that many of the earlyday Saints resorted to the skins of wild animals for covering in their dire poverty brought about by their persecution. 

It is far better to be persecuted than to be persecutors, and history is rife with illustrations of this truth. 

May God bless you in your earnest search after truth, and may you have the courage to face the honest convictions of your heart and the conclusions of your minds, is my sincere prayer and wish. 

Respectfully submitted, 

LEROY A. WILSON. 




[P.42] CHAPTER TWO 

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTARY FACTS

In Elder Wilson's reply to the letter of President Ivins, he summarizes the leading points at issue, treating each separately. That he has handled his subject clearly and intelligently the reader will no doubt admit. 

We will here present some documentary proofs in substantiation of statements made by Elder Wilson. 

As to the genuineness of the revelation of 1880 to Wilford Woodruff: President Ivins, while admitting that Wilford Woodruff, then a member of the quorum of Apostles, had received a revelation, which revelation was on April 5th, 1880, received as such by the "Presidency and Council of Twelve", yet disclaims the genuineness of the document now in general circulation, purporting to be that revelation; yet he did not take the trouble to advise his correspondent of the nature of the revelation actually received by Wilford Woodruff. He did, however, claim to have read the personal journal of Wilford Woodruff, of the dates involved, and states: "I found nothing in his journal which corresponds to the socalled revelation." 

Since the socalled revelation which President Ivins claims he did not discover, besides giving many gems of truth for comfort and direction, utters the following curse: 

" * * * woe unto that nation, or house, or people, who seek to hinder my people from obeying the patriarchal law of Abraham, which leadeth to a Celestial Glory, which has been revealed unto my Saints through the mouth of my servant Joseph (Celestial and plural marriage), for whosoever doeth these things SHALL BE DAMNED, saith the Lord of Hosts and shall be broken up and wasted away from under heaven by the judgments which I have sent forth and which shall not return unto me void" 

 it is important that its authenticity be fully established. 

P.43 

Elder Wilson speaks of a copy of the revelation in question taken from the Journal of Wilford Woodruff by Joseph W. Musser, of Salt Lake City, in about the year 1908, at the instance of his father, A. Milton Musser, then Assistant Historian of the Church. That document as copied by Elder Musser, follows: 

Revelation of 1880 to Wilford Woodruff 

During the month of January, 1880, I was at Sunset, Arizona, with Brother Lot Smith and the brethren with him who were trying to establish a Branch of the United Order at that place. At this time the Government, through its officers, were using every means in its power to enforce the EdmundsTucker antipolygamy law with the evident intent on the part of the officers to break us up as an organized community. Being away from President Taylor and my Quorum, I felt deeply distressed in mind concerning our conditions as a people. While thus exercised I went into "the Wilderness", a region of country called by this name, situated about forty miles west of Sunset; and while there I stopped with two young men who were herding sheep belonging to the people of Sunset. I remained with them ten days, reading the revelations of God as contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, and praying fervently unto the Lord to reveal to me His mind and will concerning Zion. On retiring to bed on the night of the 25th of January, 1880, I found myself wrapt in vision, and the next morning the following revelation was given to me of the Lord which I wrote at the time: 

Thus saith the Lord unto my servant, Wilford Woodruff, I have heard thy prayer and will answer thy petition. I will make known unto thee my will concerning the nations who encumber the land of promise and also concerning Zion and her inhabitants. 

P.44 

I have already revealed my will concerning the nation through the mouth of my servant Joseph, who sealed his testimony with his own blood, which testimony has been in force upon all the world from the hour of his death. 

What I the Lord have revealed in that testament and decreed upon this nation and upon all the nations of the earth, shall be fulfilled, saith the Lord of hosts. 

I the Lord have spoken and will be obeyed. My purposes shall be fulfilled upon this nation and no power shall stay my hand. The hour is at the door when my wrath and indignation will be poured out upon the wicked of the nations. Their murders, blasphemies, lying, whoredoms and abominations have come up before my face and before the heavens, and the wrath of my indignation is full. I have decreed plagues to go forth and waste mine enemies, and not many years hence they shall not be left to pollute my heritage. The devil is ruling over his kingdom, and my spirit has no place in the hearts of the rulers of this nation, and the devil stirs them up to defy my power and to make war upon my Saints. Therefore let mine Apostles and mine elders who are faithful obey my commandments which are already written for their profit and guidance. 


Thus saith the Lord unto my servant John Taylor and my servant Wilford Woodruff and my servant Orson Pratt and to all the residue of mine Apostles. Have you not gone forth in my name without purse or scrip and declared the Gospel of Life and Salvation unto this nation and the nations of the earth, and warned them of the judgments which are to come, as you have been moved upon by the power of the Holy Ghost and the inspiration of the Lord? You have done this year by year for a whole generation, as men count time. Therefore your garments are clean of the blood of this generation, and especially of this nation. Therefore, as I have said in a former commandment, so I the Lord say again unto my Apostles, go ye alone by yourselves, whether it 

P.45 

heat or in cold and cleanse your feet in water, pure water, it matters not whether it be by the running streams, or in your closets; but leave these testimonies before the Lord and the heavenly hosts; and when you have all done this, then gather yourselves together in your holy places and clothe yourselves with the robes of the Holy Priesthood and there offer up your prayers according to my holy law. Let him who presides be mouth, and kneel at the holy altar, and there let mine Apostles bring all these testimonies before my face and before the heavenly hosts and before the justified spirits made perfect. And thus saith the Lord unto you, mine Apostles, when you bring these testimonies before me, let them be presented by name as far as the spirit shall present them unto you  the Presidents of the United States, the Supreme Court, the Cabinet, the Senate and Houses of Congress of the United States, the Governors of the States and Territories, the Judges and others sent unto you, and all men and persons who have taken any part in persecuting you or bringing distress upon you or your families, or who have sought your lives, or sought to hinder you from keeping my commandments or from enjoying the rights which the constitutional laws of the land guarantee unto you. And what I the Lord say unto you mine Apostles I also say unto my servants the Seventies, the High Priests, the Elders, the Priests and all my servants who are pure in heart and who have borne testimony unto the nations. Let them go forth and cleanse their feet in pure water, and bear testimony of it unto their Father who is in heaven. And then, saith the Lord unto mine Apostles and mine Elders, when ye do these things with purity of heart, I the Lord will hear your prayers and am bound by oath and covenant to defend you and fight your battles. As I have said in a former commandment, it is not my will that mine elders should fight the battles of Zion, for I will fight your battles. Nevertheless let no man be afraid to lay down his life for my sake, for he that layeth down his life for my sake shall 

P.46 


find it again and have eternal life. The nation is ripened in iniquity, and the cup of the wrath of mine indignation is full and I will not stay my hand in judgments upon this nation, or the nations of the earth. I have decreed wars and judgments upon the wicked and my wrath and indignation are about to be poured out upon them and the wicked and rebellious shall know that I am God. As I the Lord have spoken, so will I fulfill. I will spare none who remain in Babylon, but I will burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts. As I the Lord have suffered, so will I put all enemies under my feet. For I the Lord utter my word and it shall be obeyed. And the day of wrath and indignation shall come upon the wicked. And I say again, woe unto that nation, or house or people who seek to hinder my people from obeying the Patriarchal Law of Abraham, which leadeth to a Celestial Glory, which has been revealed unto my Saints through the mouth of my servant Joseph, for whosoever doeth these things shall be damned, saith the Lord of Hosts, and shall be broken up and wasted away from under heaven by the judgments which I have sent forth, and which shall not return unto me void. And thus, with the sword, and by bloodshed, and with famine, and plagues, and earthquakes, and the thunder of heaven, and the vivid lightnings shall this nation and the nations of the earth be made to feel the chastening hand of an Almighty God until they are broken up and destroyed and wasted away from under heaven, and no power can stay my hand. Therefore, let the wicked tremble; let them that blaspheme my name hold their lips, for destruction will swiftly overtake them. All that I the Lord have spoken through the mouths of my Prophets and Apostles since the world began, concerning the last dispensation and fullness of times, concerning my Church, which has been called out of the wilderness of darkness and error, concerning the Zion and Kingdom of God and concerning Babylon the Great, and what I have spoken through the mouth of my servant Joseph, shall all be fulfilled. And 

P.47 

though the heaven and earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall be fulfilled, saith the Lord. 

These revelations and testimonies are before you. Let my Saints search the word of the Lord, and treasure up wisdom and be prepared for that which is to come. As I have decreed, so shall my judgments begin at the House of God. There are those in my Church who have a name among you, who are adulterers and adulteresses, and those who blaspheme my name and those who love and make a lie, and those who revel and drink with the drunken. If they do not speedily repent of this wickedness and abomination they should be severed from the ordinances of my house, saith the Lord. There are many who have need to repent, whose hearts are set upon the things of this world, who aspire to the honors of men, and do not honor the Priesthood, nor seek to build up the Kingdom of God as they should. Neither do they learn and comprehend that the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. Such should repent and turn unto the Lord, and seek for the Holy Spirit to guide them. Judgments will begin upon my house, and from thence will they go forth unto the world, and the wicked cannot escape. Blessed are the pure in heart, for my blessings await them in this life and eternal life in the world to come. 

Thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant and Apostles who dwell in the flesh. Fear ye not your enemies. Let not your hearts be troubled. I am in your midst. I am your advocate with the Father. I have given mine angels charge concerning you. Mine eyes are upon you and the eyes of your Heavenly Father and the heavenly hosts and all justified spirits made perfect are watching over you. Your works are manifest before the face of my servants who have sealed their testimony with their blood, and before all my servants 

P.48 


of the apostles whom I have taken unto myself. The veil is taken from off their faces and they know your works. They await your coming when you have finished your testimony in the flesh. Therefore, be ye faithful until I come. My coming is at the door. Call upon the Lord in mighty prayer. Ask and you shall receive. Whenever you agree as touching anything and ask the Father in my name, it shall be given unto you. Seek diligently to build up Zion and to magnify your high calling, and your enemies shall not prevail over you. Zion shall not be moved out of her place. Zion shall prevail against her enemies. My people shall not be hindered in the building of my Temples unto my holy name, if they will hearken unto my voice and do as I command them. 

The blood of my servants Joseph and Hyrum and of mine Apostles and elders, which has been shed for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, cries from the ground for vengeance upon the nation which has shed their blood. But their blood shall speedily be avenged and shall cease to cry unto me, for the hour of God's judgment is fully come and shall be poured out without measure upon the wicked. But hearken and hear, 0 ye Apostles, elders and people of my Church, to the word of the Lord concerning you, that for all the blessings that I will pour out upon you and the inhabitants of Zion, and the judgments and destruction upon the wicked, I will be inquired of by you to ask the Father in my name to do and to perform these things for you as I told all the house of Israel by my servant Moses, that they should ask at my hand for all those blessings which I the Lord have promised unto Israel in the latter days. And as I the Lord ordained mine Apostles who were with me in my ministry and promised them that they should sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, so I say unto you, mine Apostles, who I have raised up in these last days that I have ordained you to bear record of my name, and of the 

P.49 

Gospel of Jesus Christ, to the Gentiles first, and then to the House of Israel. I have also ordained you to sit upon thrones and judge the Gentiles and all the inhabitants of the earth unto whom you have borne testimony of my name in the day and generation in which you live. Therefore how great is your calling and responsibility before me. Therefore gird up the loins of your minds and magnify your calling in the fear of God, and prepare ye for the coming of the Son of Man, which is nigh at the door. No man knoweth the day nor the hour; but the signs of both heaven and earth indicate his coming, as promised by the mouths of my disciples. The fig tree is leafing and the hour is nigh. Therefore prepare yourselves, 0 ye Saints of the Most High God, with oil in your lamps, for blessed is he that watcheth for the coming of the Son of Man. 

Again, hear ye the word of the Lord, 0 ye mine Apostles, whom I have chosen in these last days to bear record of my name and to lead my people Israel until the coming of the Son of Man, I the Lord have raised up unto you my servant John Taylor to preside over you and to be a law giver unto my Church. He has mingled his blood with that of the martyred prophets. Nevertheless, while I have taken my servants Joseph and Hyrum unto myself, I have preserved my servant John Taylor for a wise purpose in me. I have also taken many others of the Apostles unto myself, for I take whom I will take, and preserve in life whom I will preserve, according to the counsel of my own will. And while my servant John Taylor is your President, I wish to ask the rest of my servants of the Apostles the question, Although you have one to preside over your Quorum, which is the order of God in all generations, do you not, all of you, hold the Apostleship, which is the highest authority ever given to men on earth? You do. Therefore you hold in common the keys of the Kingdom of God in all the world. You each of you have the power to unlock the veil of eternity and hold converse with God the 

P.50 


Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, and to have the ministrations of Angels. It is your right, privilege and duty to inquire of the Lord as to his mind and will concerning yourselves and the inhabitants of Zion and their interests. And whenever any one of you receives the word of the Lord, let it be written and presented in your councils. And whatever, by united consent, you deem wisdom to be presented unto the people, let it be presented by the President, my servant John Taylor as the word of the Lord. In this way you will uphold him and strengthen his hands as all the burden should not lie upon one man. For thus saith the Lord. All mine Apostles should be full of the Holy Ghost of inspiration and revelation, to know the mind and will of God, and be prepared for that which is to come. Therefore let mine Apostles keep my commandments and obey my voice, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. Fear not, for lo, I am with you until I come. I come quickly. Even so, Amen. 

(Sig.) WILFORD WOODRUFF. 

State of Utah, County of Salt Lake 

Joseph W. Musser, being first duly sworn, deposes and says: That about the year 1908, he personally copied from the Journals of the late Wilford Woodruff, certain data, of which the foregoing four pages is a true and correct copy. 

And further, that the Journals containing the above, were furnished and the copying done at the request of my father, A. Milton Musser, then an associate L. D. S. Church Historian, who permitted me to keep a copy, saying, "you may need it some day." 

JOSEPH W. MUSSER 

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 23rd of April, 1934. 

(Seal) ANNA M. HILL, 

Notary Public. 

P.51 

Should there still be a question of the above document being the revelation received by Wilford Woodruff, while in Arizona on January 26, 1880, as mentioned by President Ivins, and which was on April 5, 1880, accepted by the "Presidency and Council of the Twelve", it is, as mentioned by Elder Wilson, incumbent on President Ivins to furnish the true text of the revelation he speaks of. Surely there can be no good purpose in holding it back at this time. 

Elder Franklin D. Richards, Church Historian and a member of the Quorum of Twelve, in writing the life of Wilford Woodruff, states: (See Vol. 1, p. 874, Improvement Era) 


"During the period of the extreme and unrelenting prosecutions under the antipolygamy acts of Congress, President Woodruff spent much of the time among the churches in Arizona and Southern Utah. On January 26, 1880, having retired for some days in the mountains fasting and praying, he obtained important revelations from the Lord concerning the work of the Twelve Apostles and events which would happen affecting both the Church and the nation. These were submitted to President John Taylor and the Council of the Apostles and were accepted by them as profitable for doctrine, for comfort, for light as to the future and for encouragement in the work of the ministry." 

Surely a revelation of the Lord that was accepted by the Quorum of the Twelve "as profitable for doctrine, for comfort, for light as to the future and for encouragement in the work of the ministry", is of sufficient import to have its contents divulged to the Saints in this day; and especially so, if it will refute a "pretended revelation" that is broadly circulated as the genuine. 

Revelation of 1882 

That the history may be complete, we herewith produce the text of the revelation received by President John Taylor in October, 1882. The authenticity of this revelation, so far as we know, is not questioned. It was published in early European editions of the Doctrine and Covenants, also in 

P.52 

Life of John Taylor by Roberts, but which publication, it seems, has now ceased: 

REVLEATION GIVEN THROUGH PRESIDENT
JOHN TAYLOR AT SALT LAKE CITY, Utah
TERRITORY, OCTOBER 13, 1882 

Thus saith the Lord to the Twelve, and to the Priesthood and people of my Church: Let my servants George Teasdale and Heber J. Grant be appointed to fill the vacancies in the Twelve, that you may be fully organized and prepared for the labors devolving upon you, for you have a great work to perform; and then proceed to fill up the presiding quorum of Seventies, and assist in organizing that body of my priesthood who are your colaborers in the ministry. You may appoint Seymour B. Young to fill up the vacancy in the presiding quorum of Seventies, if he will conform to my law; for it is not meet that men who will not abide my law shall preside over my priesthood; and then proceed forthwith and call to your aid any assistance that you may require from among the Seventies to assist you in your labors in introducing and maintaining the gospel among the Lamanites throughout the land. And then let High Priests be selected, under the direction of the First Presidency, to preside over the various organizations that shall exist among this people; that those who receive the gospel may be taught in the doctrines of my Church and in the ordinances and laws thereof, and also in the things pertaining to my Zion and my kingdom, saith the Lord, that they may be one with you in my Church and my kingdom. 

Let the Presidency of my Church be one in all things; and let the Twelve also be one in all things; and let them all be one with me, as I am one with the Father. 


And let the High Priests organize themselves, and purify themselves, and prepare themselves for this labor, and for all other labors that they may be called upon to fulfill. 

P.53 

And let the Presidents of the Stakes also purify themselves, and the Priesthood and people of the Stakes over which they preside, and organize the Priesthood in their various Stakes according to my law, in all the various departments thereof, in the High Councils, in the Elders' quorums, and in the Bishops and their councils, and in the quorums of Priests, Teachers, and Deacons, that every quorum may be fully organized according to the order of my Church; and, then, let them inquire into the standing and fellowship of all that hold my Holy Priesthood in their several Stakes; and if they find those that are unworthy let them remove them, except they repent; for my Priesthood, whom I have called and whom I have sustained and honored, shall honor me and obey my laws, and the laws of my Holy Priesthood, or they shall not be considered worthy to hold my Priesthood, saith the Lord. And let My Priesthood humble themselves before me, and seek not their own will but my will; for if my Priesthood, whom I have chosen, and called, and endowed with the spirit and gifts of their several callings, and with the powers thereof, do not acknowledge me I will not acknowledge them, saith the Lord; for I will be honored and obeyed by my Priesthood. 

And, then, I call upon my Priesthood, and upon all of my people, to repent of all their sins and shortcomings, of their covetousness and pride and selfwill, and of all their iniquities wherein they sin against me; and to seek with all humility to fulfill my law, as my Priesthood, my Saints and my people; and I call upon the heads of families to put their houses in order according to the law of God, and attend to the various duties and responsibilities associated therewith, and to purify themselves before me, and to purge out iniquity from their households. And I will bless and be with you, saith the Lord, and ye shall gather together in your Holy places wherein ye assemble to call upon me, and ye shall ask for such things as are right, and I will hear your prayers, and my spirit and power shall be with you, 

P.54 

and my blessing shall rest upon you, upon your families, your dwellings and your households, upon your flocks and herds and fields, your orchards and vineyards, and upon all that pertains to you; and you shall be my people and I will be your God; and your enemies shall not have dominion over you, for I will preserve you and confound them, saith the Lord, and they shall not have power nor dominion over you; for my word shall go forth, and my work shall be accomplished, and my Zion shall be established, and my rule and my power and my dominion shall prevail among my people, and all nations shall yet acknowledge me. Even so. Amen. 

The following items pertaining to the reception and consideration of the above revelation, were, by Elder Musser, copied from the Wilford Woodruff Journals at the time of copying the revelations of 1880 and 1889, and will be found pertinent at this point: 

October 13th, 1882 


We met in council at President Taylor's office. We heard the Revelation read in which George Teasdale and Heber J. Grant were called to fill the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Seymour B. Young to fill the vacancy in the First Presidency of Seventies. 

October 14th, 1882 

We held a meeting with the Presidency, Twelve Apostles and the Presidents of Stakes. Remarks were made by President Taylor. Then the Revelation was read. George Q. Cannon spoke to us and said, "How can we teach the people any law or principle that we do not keep ourselves?" 

Joseph F. Smith spoke upon several subjects upon the Patriarchal Order of Marriage. 

President Taylor told what Joseph Smith said to him upon that subject, and said, "If we do not embrace that prin 

P.55 

ciple soon the keys will be turned against us, for if we do not keep the same law that our Heavenly Father has we cannot go with Him. The word of the Lord to us was that if we did not obey that law we could not go where our Heavenly Father dwelt. A man obeying a lower law is not qualified to preside over those who keep a higher law." 

W. Woodruff said he was glad the Quorum of the Twelve and Seventies were now to be filled, and said that the reason why the Church and Kingdom of God could not progress if we did not receive the Patriarchal Law of Marriage is that it belonged to this dispensation as well as the Baptism for the dead and any law or ordinance that belongs to this dispensation must be received by the Members of the Church, or it cannot progress. The leading men of Israel who are presiding over Stakes will have to obey the Law of Abraham, or they will have to stop. 

Moses Thatcher spoke upon the establishment of cooperative companies for handling machinery, wagons, etc. 

George Q. Cannon spoke upon the manufacturing of wagons, etc. E. Snow said that Joseph Smith said that the parable that Jesus spoke of that the man who had one talent and hid it in the earth was the man who had but one wife and would not take another, would have her taken from him and given to one who had more. 

STATEMENTS OF LORIN C. WOOLLEY AND
DANIEL R. BATEMAN 

As the authenticity of the revelation received by President John Taylor in 1886, is brought into question by President Ivins' attempt disprove it, and which revelation he claims could have no standing since it had not been received by the Church, we herewith present the statement of Elder Lorin C. Woolley, verified by Elder Daniel Bateman, with proper verification oaths. Since much controversy has arisen 

P.56 

with reference to the genuineness of this revelation, this document will be found of inestimable value to the thinking membership of the Church: 

Given at Salt Lake City, Utah, September 22, 1929. With reference to the Revelation of September 27, 1886, on the subject of Celestial or Plural Marriage, which Revelation was given by the Lord to President John Taylor. 

Present: Lorin C. Woolley, Daniel R. Bateman, John Y. Barlow, J. Leslie Broadbent and J. W. Musser. Prayer was offered by John Y. Barlow. 

Lorin C. Woolley related the following: 

While the brethren were at the Carlisle residence in May or June of 1886, letters began to come to President John Taylor from such men as John Sharp, Horace Eldredge, William Jennings, John T. Caine, Abraham Hatch, President Cluff and many other leading men from all over the Church, asking the leaders to do something, as the Gentiles were talking of confiscating their property in connection with the property of the Church. 

These letters not only came from those who were living in the Plural Marriage relation, but also from prominent men who were presiding in various offices of the Church who were not living in that relation. They all urged that something be done to satisfy the Gentiles so that their property would not be confiscated. 

George Q. Cannon on his own initiative selected a committee comprising himself, Hyrum B. Clawson, Franklin S. Richards, John T. Caine and James Jack to get up a statement or Manifesto that would meet the objections urged by the brethren above named. They met from time to time to discuss the situation. From the White home, where President Taylor and companions stopped, after leaving the Carlisle home, they came out to father's. George Q. Can 

P.57 

non would go and consult with the brethren of the committee, I taking him back and forth each day. 

On September 26, 1886, George Q. Cannon, Hyrum B. Clawson, Franklin S. Richards, and others, met President John Taylor at my father's residence at Centerville, Davis County, Utah, and presented a document for President Taylor's consideration. 

I had just got back from a three days' trip, during most of which time I had been in the saddle and being greatly fatigued, I had retired to rest. 


Between one and two o'clock P. M., Brother Bateman came and woke me up and asked me to be at my father's home where a Manifesto was to be discussed. I went there and found there were congregated Samuel Bateman, Charles H. Wilkins, L. John Nuttall, Charles Birrell, George Q. Cannon, Franklin S. Richards and Hyrum B. Clawson. 

We discussed the proposed Manifesto at length, but we were unable to become united in the discussion. Finally George Q. Cannon suggested that President Taylor take the matter up with the Lord and decide the same the next day. 

Brothers Clawson and Richards, were taken back to Salt Lake. That evening I was called to act as guard during the first part of the night, notwithstanding the fact that I was greatly fatigued on account of the three days' trip I had just completed. 

The brethren retired to bed soon after nine o'clock. The sleeping rooms were inspected by the guard as was the custom. President Taylor's room had no outside door. The windows were heavily screened. 

Sometime after the brethren retired and while I was reading the Doctrine and Covenants, I was suddenly attracted to a light appearing under the door leading to President Taylor's room, and was at once startled to hear the voices of men talking there. There were three distinct voices. I was bewildered because it was my duty to keep people out 

P.58 

of that room and evidently someone had entered without my knowing it. I made a hasty examination and found the door leading to the room bolted as usual. I then examined the outside of the house and found all the window screens intact. While examining the last window, and feeling greatly agitated, a voice spoke to me, saying, "Can't you feel the Spirit? Why should you worry?" 

At this I returned to my post and continued to hear the voices in the room. They were so audible that although I did not see the parties I could place their positions in the room from the sound of their voices. The three voices continued until about midnight, when one of them left, and the other two continued. One of them I recognized as President John Taylor's voice. I called Charles Birrell and we both sat up until eight o'clock the next morning. 

When President Taylor came out of his room about eight o'clock of the morning of September 27, 1886, we could scarcely look at him on account of the brightness of his personage. 

He stated, "Brethren, I have had a very pleasant conversation all night with Brother Joseph." (Joseph Smith) I said, "Boss, who is the man that was there until midnight?" He asked, "What do you know about it, Lorin?" I told him all about my experience. He said, "Brother Lorin, that was your Lord." 


We had no breakfast, but assembled ourselves in a meeting. I forget who opened the meeting. I was called to offer the benediction. I think my father, John W. Woolley, offered the opening prayer. There were present, at this meeting, in addition to President Taylor, George Q. Cannon, L. John Nuttall, John W. Woolley, Samuel Bateman, Charles H. Wilkins, Charles Birrell, Daniel R. Bateman, Bishop Samuel Sedden, George Earl, my mother, Julia E. Woolley, my sister, Amy Woolley, and myself. The meeting was held from about nine o'clock in the morning until 

P.59 

five in the afternoon without intermission, being about eight hours in all. 

President Taylor called the meeting to order. He had the Manifesto, that had been prepared under the direction of George Q. Cannon, read over again. Then he put each person under covenant that he or she would defend the principle of Celestial or Plural Marriage, and that they would consecrate their lives, liberty and property to this end, and that they personnally would sustain and uphold that principle. 

By that time we were all filled with the Holy Ghost. President Taylor and those present occupied about three hours up to this time. After placing us under covenant, he placed his finger on the document, his person rising from the floor about a foot or eighteen inches, and with countenance animated by the Spirit of the Lord, and raising his right hand to the square, he said, "Sign that document,  never! I would suffer my right hand to be severed from my body first. Sanction it,  never! I would suffer my tongue to be torn from its roots in my mouth before I would sanction it!" 

After that he talked for about an hour and then sat down and wrote the revelation which was given him by the Lord upon the question of Plural Marriage (which revelation follows this statement). Then he talked to us for some time, and said, "Some of you will be handled and ostracized and be cast out from the Church by your brethren because of your faithfulness and integrity to this principle, and some of you may have to surrender your lives because of the same, but woe, woe, unto those who shall bring these troubles upon you." (Three of us were handled and ostracized for supporting and sustaining this principle. There are only three left who were at the meeting mentioned  Daniel R. Bateman, George Earl and myself. So far as I know those of them who have passed away all stood firm to the covenants entered into from that day to the day of their deaths). 

P.60 

After the meeting referred to, President Taylor had L. John Nuttall write five copies of the revelation. He called five of us together: Samuel Bateman, Charles H. Wilkins, George Q. Cannon, John W. Woolley, and my self. 

He then set us apart and placed us under covenant that while we lived we would see to it that no year passed by without children being born in the principle of plural marriage. We were given authority to ordain others if necessary to carry this work on, they in turn to be given authority to ordain others when necessary, under the direction of the worthy senior (by ordination), so that there should be no cessation in the work. He then gave each of us a copy of the Revelation. 


I am the only one of the five now living, and so far as I know all five of the brethren remained true and faithful to the covenants they entered into, and to the responsibilities placed upon them at that time. 

During the eight hours we were together, and while President Taylor was talking to us, he frequently arose and stood above the floor, and his countenance and being were so enveloped by light and glory that it was difficult for us to look upon him. 

He stated that the document, referring to the Manifesto, was from the lower regions. He stated that many of the things he had told us we would forget and they would be taken from us, but that they would return to us in due time as needed, and from this fact we would know that the same was from the Lord. This has been literally fulfilled. Many of the things I forgot, but they are coming to me gradually, and those things that come to me are as clear as on the day on which they were given. 

President Taylor said that the time would come when many of the Saints would apostatize because of this principle. He said "onehalf of this people would apostatize over the principle for which we are now in hiding, yea, and pos 

P.61 

sibly onehalf of the other half" (rising off the floor while making the statement). He also said the day will come when a document similar to that (Manifesto) then under consideration would be adopted by the Church, following which "apostasy and whoredom would be rampant in the Church." 

He said that in the time of the seventh president of this Church, the Church would go into bondage both temporally and spiritually and in that day (the day of bondage) the One Mighty and Strong spoken of in the 85th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants would come. 

Among many other things stated by President Taylor on this occasion was this: "I would be surprised if ten per cent of those who claim to hold the Melchisedek Priesthood will remain true and faithful to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, at the time of the seventh president, and that there would be thousands that think they hold the Priesthood at that time, but would not have it properly conferred upon them." 

John Taylor set the five mentioned apart and gave them authority to perform marriage ceremonies, and also to set others apart to do the same thing as long as they remained on the earth; and while doing so, the Prophet Joseph Smith stood by directing the proceedings. Two of us had not met the Prophet Joseph Smith in his mortal lifetime, and we  Charles H. Wilkins and myself  were introduced to him and shook hands with him. 

(Signed) LORIN C. WOOLLEY. 


Daniel R. Bateman, being present while the above experience was related by Brother Woolley, testified as follows: 

I was privileged to be at the meeting of September 27, 1886, spoken of by Brother Woolley, I myself acting as one of the guards for the brethren during those exciting times. 

P.62 

The proceedings of the meeting, as related by Brother Woolley, are correct in every detail. I was not present when the five spoken of by Brother Woolley were set apart for special work, but have on different occasions heard the details of the same related by both Lorin C. Woolley and John W. Woolley, and from all the circumstances with which I am familiar, I firmly believe the testimony of these two brethren to be true. 

(Signed) DANIEL R. BATEMAN. 

STATE OF UTAH. County of Salt Lake 

J. Leslie Broadbent, John Y. Barlow and J. W. Musser, being each duly sworn, on oath, depose and say, that the above and foregoing four pages, constitute a full, true and correct copy of a signed statement of Lorin C. Woolley and Daniel R. Bateman, made in their presence, as the statement purports, September 22, 1929. 

J. LESLIE BROADBENT JOHN Y. BARLOW J. W. MUSSER 

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 4th day of May, 1934. (Seal) ANNA M. HILL, 

Notary Public of Salt Lake City, Utah. 

REVELATION TO PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR 

Given at the Home of John W. Woolley, Centerville, Utah, 

September 27, 1886 

My son John, you have asked me concerning the New and Everlasting Covenant and how far it is binding upon my people; thus saith the Lord. All commandments that I give must be obeyed by those calling themselves by my name, 

P.63 

unless they are revoked by me or by my authority, and how can I revoke an everlasting covenant, for I the Lord am everlasting and my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with, but they stand forever. 


Have I not given my word in great plainness on this subject? Yet have not great numbers of my people been negligent in the observance of my law and the keeping of my commandments, and yet have I borne with them these many years; and this because of their weakness  because of the perilous times, and furthermore it is more pleasing to me that men should use their free agency in regard to these matters. Nevertheless, I the Lord do not change and my word and my covenants and my law do not, and as I have heretofore said by my servant Joseph: All those who would enter into my glory MUST AND SHALL obey my law. And have I not commanded men that if they were Abraham's seed and would enter into my glory, they must do the works of Abraham? I have not revoked this law, nor will I, for it is everlasting, and those who will enter into my glory must obey the conditions thereof; even so Amen. 

While copying the revelation of 1880 from the journals of Wilford Woodruff, Elder Musser also copied other items, which included the revelation of the Lord to Wilford Woodruff of 1889, in which President Woodruff was told, in substance, not to surrender to the enemy. For the reader's full information this revelation of 1889 is here given, together with introductory journal entry: 

Woodruff Revelation, 1889 

November 24th, 1889 

Attended a meeting with the lawyers at the Gardo (house) in the evening. They wanted me to make some concession to the court upon Polygamy and other points, and I spent several hours alone and inquired of the Lord and received the following: 

P.64 

Revelation given to Wilford Woodruff, Sunday, November 24, 1889. 

Thus saith the Lord to my servant Wilford. I the Lord, have heard thy prayers and thy request and will answer thee by the voice of my Spirit. 

Thus saith the Lord unto my servants the Presidency of my Church who hold the Keys of the Kingdom of God on the earth. I the Lord hold the destiny of the courts in your midst and the destiny of this nation and all other nations of the earth in mine own hands, and all that I have revealed and promised and decreed concerning the generation in which you live, shall come to pass, and no power shall stay my hand. 

Let not my servants who are called to the Presidency of my Church deny my word or my law, which concerns the salvation of the children of men. Let them pray for the Holy Spirit which shall be given them to guide them in their acts. Place not yourselves in jeopardy to your enemies by promise. Your enemies seek your destruction and the destruction of my people. 

If the Saints will hearken unto my voice and the counsel of my servants the wicked shall not prevail. 


Let my servants who officiate as your counselors before the courts make their pleadings as they are moved upon by the Holy Spirit, without any further pledges from the Priesthood. I, the Lord, will hold the courts, with the officers of Government and the nation responsible for their acts toward the inhabitants of Zion. I, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, am in your midst. I am your advocate with the Father. Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Fear not the wicked and ungodly. Search the scriptures for they are they which testify of me; also those revelations which I have given to my servant Joseph and to all my servants since the world be 

P.65 

gan, which are recorded in the record of divine truth. Those revelations contain the judgments of God which are to be poured out upon all nations under the heavens, which include great Babylon. These judgments are at the door. They will be fulfilled as God lives. Leave judgment with me; it is mine, saith the Lord. Watch the signs of the times and they will show the fulfillment of the words of the Lord. 

Let my servants call upon the Lord in mighty prayer; retain the Holy Ghost as your constant companion and act as you are moved upon by the Spirit and all will be well with you. The wicked are fast ripening in iniquity, and they will be cut off by the Judgments of God. Great events await you and this generation and are nigh at your doors. Awake, 0 Israel, and have faith in God and his promises, and he will not forsake you. I the Lord will deliver my Saints from the dominion of the wicked in mine own due time and way. 

I cannot deny my word, neither in blessing nor judgments. Therefore let mine anointed gird up their loins, watch and be sober and keep my commandments. Pray always and faint not. Exercise faith in the Lord and in the promises of God; be valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ. The eyes of the Lord and the Heavenly Hosts are watching over you and your acts. Therefore be faithful until I come. I come quickly to reward every man, according to the deeds done in the body. Even so, Amen. 

Since the subject of obedience to the laws of the land was being laid before the Lord at this time, and his will with reference to the Saints' yielding to the demand of the enemy, being inquired after, the Lord's answer to his servant  while in all respects one to be expected  yet, in view of the faithless attitude of the people, was difficult to receive; as it proclaimed God's constancy and unyielding attitude toward eternal laws. "Let not my servants who are called to the Presidency of my Church, deny my word or my law which concerns the salvation of the children of men. * * * 

P.66 

Place not yourselves in jeopardy to the enemy by promise. * * * Make no further pledges," etc., are commands from the Eternal, from which the Saints seceded in accepting the Manifesto of Wilford Woodruff of 1890, issued some ten months later. 




[P.67] CHAPTER THREE 

REVELATIONS  MUST THE WORD OF THE LORD BE RATIFIED BY THE CHURCH IN ORDER TO MAKE IT BINDING UPON MAN? 

In President Ivins' letter, referring to the 1880 revelation of Wilford Woodruff, and the 1886 revelation to President John Taylor, he states: 

"The fact is that neither of these pretended revelations has any purport whatever so far as the Church is concerned. They were never published or presented to the body of the Church for approval, and consequently if such statements were made they have never been in force." 

This attitude of President Ivins agrees with that of the First Presidency of the Church as announced in its "Official Statement", which state (page 17): 

"Furthermore, so far as the authorities of the Church are concerned and so far as the members of the Church are concerned, since this pretended revelation (of 1886), if ever given, was never presented to and adopted by the Church or by any council of the Church, * * * the said pretended revelation could have no validity and no binding effect and force upon Church members, and action under it would be unauthorized, illegal and void." 

And upon the assumption stated, the authorities proceed to read out of the Church, castigate and persecute those who, relying upon the word of the Lord given through his Prophets, insist upon the privilege of living the Patriarchal order of marriage. 

Not all of God's revelations to his Prophets in this, or any other dispensation, have been presented to the Church or published to the world, nay  not even a tithe of them. 

God reveals his word to his Priesthood authority on earth, and it is for that authority to give unto the Church such part of the word of the Lord as may be intended for it and as it is capable of accepting and assimilating. In compil 

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ing the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, it was indicated on the title page thereof, by Joseph Smith and other members of the compiling committee, that the revelations therein contained were "carefully selected from the revelations of God"  not all of them, mind you, were taken, but only those that it was felt at the time were within the capacity of the Saints to receive. The revelation on plural marriage was one omitted from the compilation, with the evident feeling that the Saints were not sufficiently schooled in the principle of sacrifice to receive it. 

"If the Church," said Joseph Smith, "knew all the commandments, onehalf they would reject through prejudice and ignorance." (Life of Heber C. Kimball, p.333). 


Hence the unwisdom of publishing all the revelations of the Lord must be apparent. Another example of the unpreparedness of the Saints to receive the full word of God, will suffice at this point: 

In the course of some remarks made by the Prophet Joseph Smith at Nauvoo, July, 1843, he observed that 

"I am going to have a reformation, and the Saints must regard Hyrum, for he has the authority (Hyrum appointed to Second Eldership formerly held by Oliver Cowdery, Sec. 124:9456. Hyrum to act in concert with Joseph as a Prophet, Seer and Revelator, on the principle that in the mouths of two or more witnesses shall all things be established), that I might be a Priest of the Most High God; and slightly touched upon the subject of the everlasting covenant, showing that a man and his wife must enter into that covenant in the world, or he will have no claim on her in the next world. But on account of the unbelief of the people, I CANNOT REVEAL THE FULNESS OF THESE THINGS AT PRESENT." (His. of Church, Vol 5:510). 

While it is true the Church as an organization cannot be bound by a revelation that it has not had the privilege of passing on, nor can individuals be held to account for that which they have not had the opportunity of hearing or considering, yet the truth of a revelation does not depend upon man's reception or rejection thereof. When God speaks His 

P.69 

voice is law, and they to whom the revelation is directed will reject the same at their peril. Surely no one will have the audacity to say God speaks out of turn and for no good purpose! "Who will not be saved?" said Brigham Young. "Those who received the truth, OR HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF RECEIVING IT, and then reject it." Thus it is seen that an alibi fit for heaven, will not consist of simply a convenient ignorance, when the facts were staring the individual in the face, and he had ample opportunity of grasping the same. 

It must also be borne in mind that the revelation on Celestial and Plural Marriage, known as the 132nd Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, was not directed to the Church. As noted in a subsequent chapter, it was given to Joseph Smith for himself and a few of his trusty followers to whom he might be impressed through the Spirit of the Lord, to reveal it. 

It would manifestly have been unwise in Joseph to have given publicity to the revelation in his day. The Saints were not prepared for it. 

"Many men," said he, "will say 'I will never forsake you, but will stand by you at all times.' But the moment you teach them some of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God that are retained in the heavens, and are to be revealed to the children of men when they are prepared for them, they will be the first to stone you and put you to death. It was this principle that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, and will cause the people to kill the Prophets in this generation."  Life of Heber C. Kimball, p. 332. 

Commenting upon the subject, the author of the Life of Heber C. Kimball (p.333) states: 

"Joseph was not a coward; it was he who said a coward could not be saved in the kingdom of God; but neither was he lacking in caution, especially when warned of the Lord of the necessity for its exercise. Therefore, was he now revealing, to a chosen few, whom God had prepared to receive what he should tell them, one of the grand principles of the everlasting Gospel, 'unlawful to be uttered' to the multitude, yet one day to be thundered from the 

P.70 

housetops in the ears of all living, with many other mighty truths locked in the treasure house of future time of which eternity still holds the key." 

"Joseph was not a coward." It is said that he withstood God's messenger who demanded obedience of him to the divine principle, until an angel with a drawn sword commanded him to relent and obey. As the original revelation was not directed to the Church or given out for publication, neither was its confirmation to the Prophet John Taylor in the year 1886, so directed; and neither was the resultant action, as hereafter mentioned, made a matter of public record. The reasons are obvious. 

These men  Joseph Smith and his confidants  entered into the practice of the principle involved many years before the revelation was formerly acted upon by the Church. The Church might then, as it did subsequently, have taken action forbidding God's people the privilege of accepting the Patriarchal order of marriage, thereby depriving them of an exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom of God  their birthright  but had such an attempt been made in that day, from the calibre of the men then sponsoring God's work, we would expect them to be affected thereby about as much as would be the desert from a drop of rain. 

When God revealed his word to President John Taylor, on the night of September 2627, 1886, it doubtless did not occur to him that he should also visit other Church officials and reiterate his message to them, in order that it should not be denied by them in years to come! Had the revelation depended for its validity, on its being presented to and accepted by the Church, there would be a different story to tell. That revelation, however, was not given to John Taylor solely as President of the Church, but it was given to John Taylor as the one holding the Keys of the Priesthood, which authority is above and entirely independent of the Church. Upon this subject more will be said in a later chapter. 

P.71 

Let it also be understood that in the revelation of 1886 no new doctrine, rule or action was revealed; the purpose of the divine message, no doubt, being to reconfirm that which had already been revealed, and encourage the brethren to stand firm in sustaining eternal law, at the same time making it clear that the "free agency" of men should not be abridged. "Have I not given my word in great plainness on this subject?" the Lord asked, indicating that the law had been made plain in previous revelations. 


"Nevertheless, I, the Lord, do not change and my word and my covenants and my law do not, and as I have heretofore said, by my servant Joseph: all those who would enter into my Glory must and shall obey my law. * * * I have not revoked this law, nor will I, for it is everlasting, and those who will enter into my glory must obey the conditions thereof." 

Could anything be clearer? President Taylor had been besieged by many men of prominence and wealth, demanding some action be taken looking to the nullification of the law of Celestial and Plural Marriage, in order that their freedom and properties might not be further placed in jeopardy. After many conferences in which the venerable President,  he who was heralded aloud as the "Lion of Israel"  remained unmoved and unconvinced, he consented to submit the matter to the Lord for final decision. He did so with the result as indicated. It is a noteworthy fact that instead of the Lord modifying or surrendering his law, he took the opportunity of further fortifying it, by having additional men given the sealing authority and also set apart to exercise their Priesthood in perpetuating the Patriarchal order of marriage, each of the men so chosen to have the power and authority of perpetuity, even as their head, President John Taylor and his predecessors had enjoyed. "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform";  here demands had been made upon him for a modification or revocation of an eternal law, and instead of yielding to those unrighteous demands, and sensing the difficulties bound to 

P.72 

arise in the future maintenance of the law, by the faithful few, he at once added to and strengthened the machinery that had previously been set up, in order to insure the law's endurance against the wicked craftiness of the whole world. 

When the above action was taken on that memorable 27th day of September, 1886, by instruction of the Lord Jesus Christ, and under the personal direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith, God did not see fit to have the proceedings published to the world, nor formally presented to and acted on by the Church. The holy order of marriage involved is a Priesthood function and not one that is left for the Church to play foot ball with as its fanciful moods might move it to do. No truth pertaining to salvation is better established than this; it must be known to the present Church leaders, notwithstanding their efforts at subterfuge in order that the Church might be popular with Babylon. 

No one ought to know better than the present Church leaders, including President Ivins, that the Woodruff manifesto was not intended to stop the practice of plural marriage; no one ought to know better than these gentlemen that the said manifesto did not stop the performance of such marriages, not only in Mexico where President Ivins himself officiated under special direction of the Church leaders at that time, but also in the United States, Canada and other countries; and yet, to brand such actions as bogus, from lack of formal Church sanction, is tantamount to claiming that the Lord is estopped from speaking to mankind without the official consent of the Church. Such a position is untenable and cannot stand. 





[P.73] CHAPTER FOUR 

SUBTERFUGES, CAMOUFLAGES AND TWISTINGS

"And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away."  3 Nephi 21:19. 

The Prophet Isaiah, looking down through the vista of time, saw the present day with its perplexities, deceivings and apostacies. Among other things he said: 

"The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant."  24:5. 

And again: 

"Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 

"Because ye have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves."  Isaiah 28:1415. 

The word Jerusalem means "Holy City", or God's Headquarters on Earth. The term is used both as applying to the ancient capital of Judah and to the new Jerusalem to be established as the Zion of the Lord on the land of Joseph. Speaking of this latter city the Lord said: 

"And it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the Saints of the Most High God." 

Isaiah's prophecy doubtless had reference to the Jerusalem to be established in the "tops of the mountains" of the land of Joseph, and the Prophet's reference to the rulers of the people entering into a "covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement." having "made lies our refuge, 

P.74 

and under falsehood have we hid ourselves", has very properly been applied to the actions of the Church leaders in adopting the Woodruff manifesto, together with its various vicious interpretations. Much has been written to show that the manifesto, if observed, would amount to nothing less than a "covenant with death", for it would prevent the operation of the principle necessary to insure life  eternal life, I mean. Since it is Satan's mission to bring death into the world, and since compliance with the manifesto would mean death in its broadest sense, one can with perfect propriety say that after entering into the "covenant with death", "with hell we are agreements"  "for we have made lies our refuge and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." 


Probably no prophecy, either ancient of modern, has received a more literal fulfillment than this prophesy of Isaiah has received at the hands of the Mormon people in the years from October, 1890, to the present time. NO PROPHECY COULD BE MORE LITERALLY FULFILLED! Never in the one hundred years of the Church existence have its leaders made the avowed effort to harmonize its operations with the standards of world thought as during the past two decades. It has surrendered to the demands of Babylon, two vital elements as pertaining to its spiritual life  the tap root, so to speak, of the tree of life, the heart thereof  these are the Patriarchal order of marriage and the garment of the Holy Priesthood, without which glorious blessings and saving principles there is left only the empty hull of a once perfect and beautiful creation  the ugly carcass of a wavering priesthood bleaching upon the the desert stands of apostacy,  a horrible example of the fate of a once mighty people choosing to be at agreement with hell rather than to serve their God, even at the cost of property and life. 

P.75 

Jesus said: 

"Break not my commandments for to save your lives; for whosoever will save his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come. (The adoption of the Woodruff manifesto was an act calculated to save the lives and property of the people, which, however, according to the above, they will lose in the world to come; hence an agreement with death and hell). 

"And whosoever will lose his life in this world, for my sake, shall find it in the world to come. 

"Therefore, forsake the world, and save your souls; for what is a man profited, IF HE SHALL GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD, AND LOSE HIS OWN SOUL?"  Matt. 16:2729, I. T. 

God's Prophet, John Taylor, predicting that a manifesto similar to the one the Lord had forbade him signing, would some day be adopted by the Church, said "following which, apostacy and whoredom would be rampant in the Church"  another prophecy that has found its literal fulfillment in the actions of the Mormon people. Can these facts be gainsaid? Have not the leaders themselves thundered from the Church pulpits the fact that thievings and drunkenness are discovered in the sacred precincts of the Temple of God? and that the missionaries, in preparation for their high and holy calling to the world, during their sojourn in Salt Lake City for a season of training, are found consorting with the women of the underworld?  Is it not a fact that the daughters of Zion are prostituting their once beautiful bodies  whoring in the "Cities of the Saints"? Why the demand from the wives and daughters of many of the leaders of Ephraim, for the privilege of substituting for the sacred garment of the Holy Priesthood, the flimsy makebelieve they now wear, except that they might expose their bodies as is the fashion of Babylon?  Truly shameful as the facts are, and disheartening  "whoredom and apostacy" are rampant in the Church, and another prophetic prediction is fulfilled! 

It is not surprising that the leading brethren, when confronted with the facts of prophecy and history, which tend to condemn their course, should resort to subterfuge and 

P.76 

sophistry to cover up their mistakes. In the Ivins letter referred to herein, the writer states: 

"Naturally these people desiring that others be brought into the same unhappy condition that they occupy collect from the writings and spoken words of the presiding authorities of the Church, those things which appear to justify their contention, but carefully refrain from publishing that which has been said against it." 

Insofar as the above charge applying to verbal statements or publications of the author is concerned, we brand the same as a malicious falsehood and challenge the proof. In the author's publication "The New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage," he took careful pains to set forth in extenso the statements of the opposition  such men as Dr. James E. Talmage, Wilford Woodruff, Charles W. Penrose, the present Presidency of the Church, and others. The same may be said in truth of that very excellent work on "Celestial Marriage" by Broadbent, as also the Leaf in Review, by Allred. The authors of these works have not in the slightest degree attempted to cover up facts that would tend to defeat their arguments. 

It is a weak cause that requires sidestepping and the author has in no sense championed a weak cause. God's cause is rendered all the stronger by the attempts of the leading authorities to weaken it, or to throw a smokescreen of prejudice and misstatements about it for the purpose of hiding it. Truth requires no apology. When it is considered that the Church leaders seek to fortify themselves by donning their priestly robes, while hurling their poisoned anathemas from the pulpit where a servile protection is afforded them, calling honest men and women  and naming them  liars, adulterers and apostates, it little becomes such men, when hit by the arrows of truth and justice, to flutter and hide behind the accusation of unfair play on the part of the victim so wickedly attacked. 

We are frequently asked how we reconcile the statements of leading brethren, in their denunciation of the principle 

P.77 

of Celestial marriage with their every day actions; also with their attitude toward other leading men whose lives are known to oppose such denunciations. One such inquiry is now before the author  the party asking our attitude toward the statement of President Joseph F. Smith, as recorded on page 352 of "Gospel Doctrines", and which statement is used frequently by the present Church leaders as an evidence of their sincerity in attempting to nullify a law of Heaven. We know of no better time or place to answer our correspondent than here and now: 

President Smith is reported to have said in part: 


"We have announced in previous conferences, as it was announced by President Woodruff, as it was announced by President Snow, and as it was reannounced by me and my brethren and confirmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, plural marriages have ceased in the Church. There isn't a man today in this Church, or anywhere else, outside of it, who has authority to solemnize a plural marriage  not one! There is no man or woman in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints who is authorized to contract (enter into) a plural marriage." 

The above statement may be condensed to read: "Plural marriages have ceased in the Church. There isn't a person today, in or out of the Church, who has authority either to solemnize or enter into this order of marriage." 

The statement contradicts other statements emanating from the Church leaders since the Woodruff manifesto. It does not measure up to the real teachings and actions of its author. We think the most charitable view to take in the premises is that President Smith's statement, along with other statements made both by himself and his predecessors, were pure subterfuge  an attempt to cover up the real facts. The definition of the word "subterfuge" as given in the standard dictionaries is  "That to which one resorts for escape or concealment," etc. This fits the present case most admirably, for in the statement made, it was doubtless intended to "conceal" the real facts then existing, and to provide an "escape" from the consequences thereof. 

P.78 

It may be said that the issuing of the manifesto by Wilford Woodruff was an act of expediency. The brethren sought through it to save the property of the Church from governmental confiscation and to preserve to the Saints their civil rights; having in mind the obtaining of Statehood, when laws suitable to the cause of religious liberty could be substituted for the iniquitous antipolygamous laws then in existence. But once having rejected the Lord's instructions and resorted to human devices, circumstances forced the leaders of the Church to make statements and to assume positions leading to a maze of contradictions and subterfuges. President Smith's statement referred to, in our opinion, is in this class, and should not be so considered and treated. 

It is to be regretted that the brethren, in drawing away from the protecting Spirit of the Lord, and expressing their personal views, so frequently contradict each other and place themselves open to serious criticism. While President Smith specifically states that no one on earth has the authority to perform plural marriages, the present Church authorities, in their "Official Statement" of June 17, 1993 (pp. 1920) just as positively state the opposite. They say  

"At President John Taylor's death, the keys of the sealing ordinances, with their powers and limitations, passed by regular devolution in the way and manner prescribed by the Lord and in accordance with the custom of the Church, to President Wilford Woodruff. At the latter's death they similarly passed to President Lorenzo Snow; and upon his death they similarly passed to President Joseph F. Smith; and at his death the same keys passed in the same way to President Heber J. Grant. There has been no change in the law of succession of the Priesthood and of the keys appertaining thereto, nor in the regular order of its descent. 


"The keys of the sealing ordinances rest today solely in President Heber J. Grant, having so passed to him by the ordination prescribed by the Lord, at the hands of those having the authority to pass them, and whose authority has never been taken away by the Lord, nor suspended, nor interfered with by the Church. President Grant is the only man on the earth at this time who possesses these keys." 

P.79 

By way of dispersion, it may be noted that in the above statement President Grant seriously contradicts a previous statement he made (April 7, 1821) as follows: 

"President Grant said he had been told that an Elder had said Heber J. Grant had not the authority to say plural marriages could not be performed, that God gave the principle and only God could take it away. 'God has taken it away," said President Grant; 'the right to perform plural marriages is not on the earth today.' "  Deseret News, April 7, 1921. 

And this: 

"Notwithstanding the sealing powers pertaining to this and other