The Original Teachings of Joseph Smith

RLDS Epitome of Belief

2010-05-30T05:18:00.001-07:00

RLDS Epitome of Faith and Doctrine

(Defined by Joseph Smith, Jr.)

We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgressions.

We believe that through atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.

We believe that these ordinances are, first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost

We believe that a man must be called of God by "prophecy, and by laying on of hands" by those who are in authority to preach the gospel and administer the ordinances thereof.

We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church; viz., apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.

We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, etc.

We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes, that Zion will be built upon this continent, that Christ will reign personally upon the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisaic glory.

We claim privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our consciences, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law.

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, "we believe all things, we hope all things," we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

From Times and Seasons, Vol. 3, p 709-710, 1842

Why the RLDS Shunns Utah Mormonism

2010-03-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

Excerpts Of An Email

Mr. Booker, While our Restorationist Boo Whooing may seem needless and counter productive, the Restorationists movement wanting the name Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is for more than our vanity.

As you so accurately observe we stay distanced from our Salt Lake Mormon cousins for a myriad of reasons. Reasons which to ourselves are good ones, but as you've so astutely put, even Serial Killers think they have " GOOD REASON " For doing what they do... Often many!

The RLDS/Restorationist Movement has distanced themselves from Utah because of many various reasons. Primarily because Utah is an Usurper Church, who's leaders broke state and church law by leading 10,000 Saints to Utah without a Church Conference Vote by the whole, then existing 200,000 Church membership which is confirmed by Joseph Smith's own words,:

In a reply to Henry Clay, May 13, 1844,
Times and Seasons, Vol. 5, p. 574, Joseph
Smith, Jr. states:
“Why Great God! to transport 200,000 people
through a vast prairie: over the Rocky Mountains,
to Oregon, a distance of nearly two
thousand miles, would cost more than four
millions!” (emphasis added)

In an earlier post I stated there there was a conspiracy against Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Isaiah 29: 14 speaks of the Great and Marvelous Work God would bring forth to the children of men.

Isaiah 29:15-16 speaks about men who will work against that work, who's works are in the dark, who would seek to turn the Great and Marvelous Work " UPSIDE DOWN "

The Biblical date this all happens is around the time of the greening of Lebanon. In 1842 rains began to fall in Lebanon, by 1844 Joseph Smith was murdered by members of his own church, those same members who left for Salt Lake Utah, where in the name of Jesus Christ they killed murdered and worse, burning homes and killing the inhabitants of the prior citizens of the land Utah Mormons now call their home.

Worse, Utah Mormonism began " Official " Promulgation of Anti Christ doctrines, which their " Book of Commandments and Book of Mormon teach against. Polygamy, Adam God Theory, Blood Atonement ect... None of which Joseph Smith ever taught, but in fact taught against!!!

And this can be proven by everything Joseph Smith ever "authentically wrote" as well as by "official records" of of the LDS and RLDS Church. As well as by the accumulated findings of U.S. Courts of Law and U.S.Congressional Investigation...

The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ has good reason to distance themselves from a Church who's foundation is upon murder. Not just of their own Prophet, but from a Church whos own group the " Hells Angels " ( read your western history ) murdered many Utah farm families and Ranchers to get their land and women...

While you may ridicule men like myself for wanting to stay distanced from a church of corruption, who priesthood teaches doctrines against Jesus Christ, which can be found in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants, I cannot as a Christian and RLDS member do anymore or less.

A man or woman is perceived by others and the world by whom they associate with. The Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine & Covenants bids all who believe to be ABOVE REPROACH.

While I've NO GRIPE with MORMON CHURCH MEMBERS THEMSELVES, I do have a gripe with the leadership and what Utah hierarchy continues to teach to it's members. Or rather what they don't teach...

If a man teaches truth, it means he teaches EVERTHING ( good and bad ), and he does not lie! Something I've found sadly lacking in Utah Mormonism today.

If I associate with a man who teaches truth, people around me will naturally assume I love truth, all truth! But If I associate with men who teach against Christ's gospel or worse, keep company with men who murder, lie and steel that which is God's, would not people think I agree with them?

Therefore how much worse would mankind think me, and how much would my ministry be destroyed as a priest of the RLDS Church, if I appeared to agree with a church who's foundation is built upon murder and lies.

One of the lies is the Utah Mormon Church is the original church Joseph Smith started... Not so!

Read the below U.S. Court document:

Court Rulings Joseph Smith Did Not Teach But Fought Polygamy

False Mormon Teachings

2009-04-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

Joseph Smith Faught Polygamy

Mathew 7:20

Words of Jesus Christ

20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Despite the spiritual impossibility, the Utah Mormon Church today, teaches it's members Joseph Smith recieved a commandment from Jesus Christ, to teach polygamy. Further Utah claims Joseph Smith taught and practiced polygamy in secret.

Well known Mormon leaders, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimbal, John Talor, William Law and their plural wives, some claim to once been married to Joseph Smith, swore out legal afidavits saying Joseph Smith was a polygamist. Their plural wives appear to give confirming legal evidence,Joseph Smith indeed did practise Polygamy....

So the question is, did Joseph Smith practise polygamy?

We today, look at the testimonies of 2000 people, who once long ago, swore Joseph Smith had no truck with Utah's brand of Mormonism. Indeed that Joseph Smith faught Polygamy....

We start by examining the fruits of Joseph Smith's fight against Polygamy.....

The Personal Fruits of Joseph Smith Against Polygamy

"I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives.... I am innocent of all these charges....

What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers."

—Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6:410–411

Joseph Smith Gave 1831 LDS Doctrine

and Covenants Revelation Man Should Cleave To one Wife

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

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

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

1835 LDS Marriage Ceremony

On August 18, 1835, a conference of the Church considered the form of marriage ceremony to be used in the Church and adopted the following covenant, which is used in every marriage ceremony in this Church to the present day: "You both mutually agree to be each other's companion, husband and wife, observing the legal rights belonging to this condition; that is, keeping yourselves wholly for each other, and from all others, during your lives?" (Doctrine and Covenants 111:2b).
The same section which includes this marriage covenant incorporates also this declaration of belief from the Church: "We declare that we believe that one man should have one wife; and one woman but one husband" (Doctrine and Covenants 111:4b. This section was removed from the Utah edition in 1876, and the "revelation" on polygamy substituted).

The Book of Mormon, which was translated by Joseph Smith, calls polygamy an abomination and states the rule that one man shall have one wife, "and concubines he shall have none" (Jacob 2:36).

Joseph Smith Sued Chauncey L. Higbee in Court at Carthage

Joseph Smith took immediate action when he discovered that Lawyer Chauncey L. Higbee had used his name to seduce women into practicing spiritual wifery. The Prophet was so disturbed by this news that he not only brought Chauncey before the Church's High Council and had him expelled from the Church, but he took the case two steps further: He sued Chauncey in Nauvoo before Justice of the Peace Ebenezer Robinson, and later in the Hancock County Circuit Court at the county seat at Carthage Missouri. In doing so Joseph provided one of the strongest evidences that:

(1) he was not a polygamist,

(2) that he had not had a revelation commanding the practice of polygamy, and

(3) that polygamy had its origin in some other source (which was in Dr. Bennett's brand of Cochranism).

Attention Reader! These are excepts and evidences Joseph Smith was not a polygamist. The amount of evidence is so massive, I cannot post it all! To read about Joseph's Law Suit, and discover the true dephs of Utah Mormon Church conspiracy, click below link:
http://restorationbookstore.org/articles/nopoligamy/jsfp-vol1/chp13.htm

Joseph Smith's Sermon Against Polygamy

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

Joseph declared:

Another indictment has been got up against me [the polygamy indictment]. It appears a holy prophet [William Law] has arisen up, and he has testified against me [causing the polygamy indictment to be brought forth].... God knows, then, that the charges against me are false.I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives. I mean to live and proclaim the truth as long as I can.This new holy prophet [William Law] has gone to Carthage and swore that I had told him that I was guilty of adultery. This spiritual wifeism! Why, a man dares not speak or wink, for fear of being accused of this.... William Law ... swears that I have committed adultery. I wish the grand jury would tell me who they [the alleged wives] are—whether it will be a curse or blessing to me....A man asked me whether the commandment [revelation] was given that a man may have seven wives; and now the new prophet has charged me with adultery.... Wilson Law [William's brother] also swears that I told him I was guilty of adultery.... I have rattled chains before in a dungeon for truth's sake. I am innocent of all these charges, and you can bear witness of my innocence, for you know me yourselves.... What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one.I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago [when charged with polygamy shortly after his marriage to Emma Hale]; and I can prove them all perjurers.

(LDS History of the Church 6:410–411; italics added)

Court Rulings Joseph Smith Did Not Teach But Fought Polygamy

Judge L. S. Sherman rendered the following decision:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joseph Smith III In Defence of His Father
Joseph Smith the martyr

Joseph III testified on other occasions of the peace and harmony between his mother and father. He wrote:"It has been reported by those who pretended to be friends of father, that mother was quarrelsome and was antagonistic to my father, and frequently made trouble for him. I have this to say now, that tracing my memory back through the period of time in which my father was permitted to stay with his family, that I never heard any quarreling or harsh language between them under any circumstances, and that even disagreements between them were not conducted in a noisy or angry manner, that mother's language was quiet and temperate, and so was father's. (Journal of History 3 [July 1910]: 337–338)

Emma Smiths Testimony To A Faithful Husband

Emma Smith, who was the wife of Joseph's youth, testified in her old age: "He had no other wife but me; nor did he to my knowledge ever have.... He did not have any improper relation with any woman that ever came to my knowledge.... I know that he had no other wife, or wives, than myself, in any sense- spiritual, or otherwise." "Young Joseph," the son of Joseph and Emma, though not quite twelve years old at his father's death, was old enough to know whether his father's family life was all that it should be, and his evidence corroborates the statement of his mother.

RLDS President Israel A. Smith in Defense of Joseph Smith

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

(Letter to Pamela Price,September 17, 1956

Read more? Click Link below

http://restorationbookstore.org/jsfp-index.htm

Elder Willard J. Smith.

"If Joseph Smith ever taught or practiced the doctrine of polygamy, we ask, When? Where? or by what testimony can he be thus convicted? And until these interrogations are properly answered, we shall feel justified in flaunting back the statement that he taught or practiced polygamy in the face of his accusers as an unmitigated slander and villainous persecution". --

Mary Page Eaton Testified that Joseph Was Not a Polygamist

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

Lorenzo Wasson Testified of Bennett's Guilt and Joseph's Innocence

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

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

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

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

1,000 thousand Women Defend Joseph Smith's Innocence

Eliza R. Snow reputed polygamous wife to Joseph Smith

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

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

Eliza R. Snow, Secretary.

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

Want to read More? Click below...

http://www.restorationbookstore.org/articles/nopoligamy/jsfp-vol1/chp10.htm

One Thousand Men Affirmed That Joseph
Was Innocent of Polygamy

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

Joseph Smith's Personal Clerks Betrayed Him

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

http://rldsincourt.blogspot.com/2008/10/joseph-smiths-sermon-against-polygamy.html

Brigham Young Taught:
“It is the word of the Lord, and I wish to say
to you, and all the world, that if you desire
with all your hearts to obtain the blessings
which Abaham obtained, you will be
polygamists. . . . This is as true as that God
lives. . . . The only men who become Gods,
even the sons of God, are those who enter
into polygamy.”
Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, pp. 268, 269.

August 19, 1866

Joseph Smith II
“While I have power of body and mind; while water runs and grass grows; while
virtue is lovely and vice hateful...I or my posterity will plead the cause of injured
innocense.”
(Letter written by Joseph Smith to Honorable J. C. Calhoun, January 2, 1844, six months before
his death. Times and Seasons, January, 1844, Vol. 5, p. 395.)

The Sarah Pratt Case

The summer of 1842 was filled with tribulation for Joseph the Prophet because of the many accusations which Dr. John Bennett made against him. In addition to claiming that Joseph had sent Porter Rockwell to assassinate Lilburn Boggs, ex-governor of Missouri, and the Martha Brotherton and Nancy Rigdon cases, Bennett accused Joseph of trying to seduce Apostle Orson Pratt's wife, Sarah Marinda.
When Bennett and Francis M. Higbee had been brought into Church court in July 1841, it was discovered that Bennett had been promiscuous with Sarah over an extended period while Orson was in the British Isles on a mission. But because both Bennett and Francis had shown such sincere repentance, they were forgiven, as mentioned in previous chapters, and the findings of the court were not made public. However, when Bennett and Chauncey L. Higbee were found in the summer of 1842 to still be practicing spiritual wifery, they were expelled from the Church. Thereupon Bennett retaliated by publishing his infamous six letters in the Sangamo Journal, beginning July 7. To make Joseph appear to be a villain, Dr. Bennett claimed in his letters, among other charges, that Joseph had tried to take Sarah as a plural wife, but that she had refused him.

After the Sangamo Journal published Bennett's accusations, they were republished in newspapers nationwide, and Joseph was obligated to answer those charges. His welfare, and that of his family and the Church, was dependent upon his response. Therefore, the Prophet proclaimed his innocence in sermons, in public meetings called for that purpose, and by publishing what had hitherto been confidential information known only to Church officials—information concerning John Bennett's affair with Sarah Pratt.

Church authorities discovered in 1841 that Bennett had seduced women by teaching them the falsehood that Joseph had received a polygamous revelation and was practicing polygamy (known also as spiritual wifery). By teaching this untruth, Bennett was able to lead young men and women into practicing that doctrine. When confronted with his sins, Bennett admitted his guilt, declared that he had lied about Joseph, wept much, and attempted suicide by taking poison. He was given an antidote and survived. He then called upon God and the angels to witness his repentance, begged for mercy and forgiveness, and pleaded that his sins not be made public. Dr. Bennett was forgiven—and it was hoped that he and his clique would repent, and the Saints could be spared the trial of the public learning of polygamy in the Church.

To continue reading click this link: http://restorationbookstore.org/articles/nopoligamy/jsfp-visionarticles/sarahprattcase.htm

Joseph's Sermon against Polygamy

Joseph Smith's sermon in which he denied being a polygamist is a fitting closing for this volume, even though there are many more conclusive proofs of his innocence in the long and complicated story of Utah Mormon polygamy. The additional proofs are to be treated in later volumes.In 1844 William Law, a former member of the First Presidency at Nauvoo, formed a conspiracy along with others to depose Joseph and take the leadership of the Church from him. This group of conspirators went so far as to organize a new church called the "Reformed Mormon Church" and issue a call to the Saints to reject Joseph and join the new church (see the Nauvoo Expositor, Friday, June 7, 1844).
To continue reading click link:

http://rldsincourt.blogspot.com/2008/10/joseph-smiths-sermon-against-polygamy.html
Or Click: http://restorationbookstore.org/articles/nopoligamy/jsfp-vol1/chp19.htm

Where are DNA Proofs of Joseph Smith's Polygamous Children?

Many say Joseph Smith had many wives. Yet what one of these marriages was consumated? What marriage resulted in children?

DNA testing as well as history, has proven Brigham Young had many wives and Children.

Joseph Smith, Jr., Did NotTeach nor Practice Polygamy

2009-04-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

Joseph Smith, Jr., Did NotTeach nor Practice Polygamy

by Evan A. Fry

Life Magazine, in the issue of October 27, [1947], carries a three-page story about a centennial reunion in Salt Lake City, Utah, participated in by some 400 of the 2,000 living descendants of an early Mormon pioneer and his six wives. The magazine story asserts that in the year 1834, one Charles C. Rich first met Joseph Smith. "In 1843, Revelator Smith 'revealed' a new doctrine which sanctified the institution of plural marriages. Follower Rich soon began to practice polygamy. By the time Rich arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 2, 1847, he had six wives and a growing family," says Life.

Joseph Smith Never Taught Polygamy

The Reorganized Church asserts now, and has from the beginning, that Joseph Smith never revealed, preached, practiced, sanctioned, or condoned polygamy. The law he gave to the Church in his lifetime was plain and completely in harmony with the Biblical law that one man and one woman-"they twain," not three or six or any other plural number-should be one flesh.

Joseph Smith Gave Revelation Man Should Cleave To one Wife

Second Revelation Marriage Against Pural Marriage

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

1835 Marriage LDS Marriage Ceremony

On August 18, 1835, a conference of the Church considered the form of marriage ceremony to be used in the Church and adopted the following covenant, which is used in every marriage ceremony in this Church to the present day: "You both mutually agree to be each other's companion, husband and wife, observing the legal rights belonging to this condition; that is, keeping yourselves wholly for each other, and from all others, during your lives?" (Doctrine and Covenants 111:2b). The same section which includes this marriage covenant incorporates also this declaration of belief from the Church: "We declare that we believe that one man should have one wife; and one woman but one husband" (Doctrine and Covenants 111:4b. This section was removed from the Utah edition in 1876, and the "revelation" on polygamy substituted). The Book of Mormon, which was translated by Joseph Smith, calls polygamy an abomination and states the rule that one man shall have one wife, "and concubines he shall have none" (Jacob 2:36).

Polygamy First Proclaimed By Brigham Young 8 Years After Smith's Death

Joseph Smith was killed on June 27, 1844. Polygamy was first publicly proclaimed by Brigham Young in Salt Lake on August 29, 1852, eight years and two months after the prophet's death. It was presented as a revelation from Smith, received in 1843, but kept secret for all those years. Young stated ... to the conference, "Though that doctrine [polygamy] has not been practiced by the elders, this people have believed in it for years. " Therefore, if the magazine story is correct, Mr. Rich arrived in Utah with six wives almost five years before Brigham Young proclaimed polygamy with the assertion that it had not yet been practiced by the Church.

Young predicted on this occasion, "And I tell you ... it [the principle of polygamy] will sail over and ride triumphantly above all the prejudice and priestcraft of the day." How that prediction has been fulfilled, I leave you to decide.

The Bible Does Not Justify Polygamy, Book of Mormon Calls Polygamy An Abomination

The purported revelation (Section 132, Utah Edition of the Doctrine and Covenants) presented thus in 1852, quotes Joseph Smith as inquiring of the Lord as to how He "justified" the patriarchs of old in polygamy-when the Bible contains no mention of such a justification, and the Book of Mormon calls polygamy an abomination. It [the Utah Section 132] commands Joseph to "prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you" (verse 1), and in a later paragraph commands Emma Smith to "receive all that have been given unto my servant Joseph" (verse 52). The purported revelation teaches not only a plurality of wives, but makes salvation dependent on obedience to the principle of polygamy (verse 4). It teaches also a plurality of gods and promises that those who practice polygamy "shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things" (verses 20 and 21). It promises that if a man marry a wife according to this law, any sin save shedding of innocent blood will be forgiven him (verse 26).

Joseph Smith's Teaching About God and Marriage

Contrast this with the teachings of Joseph Smith in his lifetime, and it is like contrasting black with white. He taught that there is one God; that only belief in and obedience to the gospel of Christ- not polygamy- cancels and forgives sin; that men must respect and obey the laws of the land as well as the law of God and be judged according to the deeds done in the flesh. We have already quoted his teachings regarding marriage.

Joseph Smith's Plural Marriages Were By Proxy

After Smith's Death

After the declaration of this document [Utah Section 132] in 1852, many women in Utah claimed to have been wives to Joseph Smith. But examination of each claim will reveal that the marriage was performed by proxy after Smith's death. In all of Utah- in all of the world- not a single child of Joseph Smith has ever been produced save by his one and only wife, Emma Hale Smith.
When you consider that the so-called revelation promised Joseph that he would be blessed and multiplied an hundredfold in this world of wives and children (see verse 55), and when you consider the pride and satisfaction in polygamous ancestry which still exists in Utah (exemplified by the family gathering described in Life), does it seem probable that there could have been a single polygamous child begotten by Joseph Smith who would not blazon that fact from the housetops? You may be sure that if even one such child- let alone the hundreds promised to him-could have been produced in evidence, he would have been produced long before this.

Emma Smiths Testimony To A Faithful Husband

Emma Smith, who was the wife of Joseph's youth, testified in her old age: "He had no other wife but me; nor did he to my knowledge ever have.... He did not have any improper relation with any woman that ever came to my knowledge.... I know that he had no other wife, or wives, than myself, in any sense- spiritual, or otherwise." "Young Joseph," the son of Joseph and Emma, though not quite twelve years old at his father's death, was old enough to know whether his father's family life was all that it should be, and his evidence corroborates the statement of his mother.

U.S. Court Rules Utah Church Started Polygamy

In a court trial involving possession of certain real estate, Judge John F. Phillips, of the Circuit Court of the United States Western District of Missouri, found as follows in his decision given March 16, 1894: "...That the church in Utah has largely departed from the faith, doctrines, laws, ordinances, and usages of said original church ... and has incorporated into its system of faith the doctrines of celestial marriages and a plurality of wives."
We stand on this record to deny again that Joseph Smith ever revealed, preached, practiced, condoned, or sanctioned polygamy.

A Study in Mormonism

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An Open Letter To the Clergy ....
Elbert A. Smith
Office of FIRST PRESIDENCY
LAMONI, IOWA.

Dear Sir:

Understanding that you are interested in the nation-wide campaign against Mormonism, I desire to approach you with a request that I believe you will concede to be only fair and just.

The request is this: that in your lectures, and articles written for publication, you will make a clear distinction between the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the Latter Day Saint Church of Utah, commonly called the Mormon Church.

We have suffered much from misunderstanding and misrepresentation, owing to the popular tendency to confuse us with the dominant church in Utah, and we ask your help to clear up this misunderstanding, to the extent demanded by common justice.

As a representative of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and in behalf of the highest presiding council of that body, I crave your indulgence for a moment while I set forth some facts that you should clearly understand before you reach a conclusion or express yourself upon Mormonism.

No study of Mormonism is complete that ignores that body of believers in the Book of Mormon and the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith that is sometimes called "The nonpolygamous branch of the Mormon Church," a title that is not wholly correct, but is perfectly true so far as the nonpolygamous clause is concerned. (The term "Mormonism" is used in this letter as a matter of convenience and is not accepted by us as a proper church title.)

First of all let me state that we do not teach, practice, or believe the doctrine of polygamy, nor have we ever done so. We regard it as unscriptural, unscientific, and contrary to the nobler sentiments of manhood. We look upon it with unmixed abhorrence, as a menace to that great corner stone of civilization, the home. We believe that a man should have but one wife, and her he should love and cherish with all his heart, keeping himself sexually for her and from all others.

We reject the doctrine advanced by Brigham Young, that "Adam is our God,, and the only God with whom we have to do." We believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and in the brotherhood of man, just " those great facts are set forth in the Bible.

We reject the idea of "blood atonement" taught by Brigham Young, and recognize excommunication from the church as the extreme penalty within the power of the church to inflict here on earth. The State alone may deprive a man of life, liberty, or property.

We do not believe in political interference. Our members are free to support any political party, without dictation or interference from the priesthood.

We do not believe in commercialism within the church as exhibited in Utah. While we hold to the law of tithing as a scriptural doctrine, the paying of tithes is optional with the membership, and the spiritual authorities are not permitted to enrich themselves from the tithes gathered. A strict account of all money received and expended is published annually, and the account is audited by auditors elected and sustained by the membership of the church.

We are democratic in principle, to this extent -- that in the general conference, legislation may originate with any delegate, whether of the priesthood or the laity, male or female; and that all proposed legislation is freely debated on the floor of the assembly, and is decided by majority vote.

We believe that the laws of the land should be strictly obeyed, and hold to the principle laid down by Joseph Smith during his life: "He that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land."

Here permit me to state briefly a few items -of history: Joseph Smith organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints April 6, 1830. He was assassinated in June, 1844. During the period, of his life and presidency both he and the church taught strict monogamy and denounced polygamy and similar evils as evidence abundantly shows; despite the statements of certain encyclopedias and sensational exposes of Mormonism.

After the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young led a part of the membership of the church to Utah, where he later introduced the doctrines that we have mentioned; and these doctrines have become so notorious that many now suppose that they were a part of so-called "Mormonism" from the first.

Those who could not conscientiously follow Brigham Young and could not accept his doctrines, came together and reorganized under the leadership of Joseph Smith, the oldest son of Joseph Smith, the founder of the church. The Reorganized Church has headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa, and Independence, Missouri.

To avoid confusion, I will here state that Joseph F. Smith, for many years president of the Utah Mormon Church, notorious for his polygamous views and practices, was the son of Hyrum Smith; while the first president of the Reorganized Church, Joseph Smith, was the son of Joseph Smith, the founder of the church, and in turn was succeeded by his son, Frederick M. Smith.

The descendants of the Joseph Smith who founded the church have a regularly-organized association, with constitution and by-laws, and a membership of over one hundred, including direct descendants and those who have married into the family. Not one of these descendants holds membership in the Utah Mormon Church or gives allegiance in any way to the erroneous doctrines of that body of people.

The civil courts have twice sustained our contention that we are the true successors-and that after long and exhaustive investigation. You will see the deep significance of that fact at a glance. It means that all that we stand for now in the way of morality and religion, the church stood for under the administration of Joseph Smith, prior to 1844; and the conditions in Utah to-day are not a true criterion by which to judge the church in its beginning.

Behind the evil mask of Utah Mormonism is seen the face of Brigham Young, not that of Joseph Smith. The so-called revelation sanctioning polygamy -- found in Utah editions of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants -- while it bears the name of Joseph Smith, was never published until eight years after his death, and was then produced by Brigham Young. It is a fraudulent document.

At this juncture you may well ask for some proofs to support my statements. Space will not permit me to produce one tenth of all that might be furnished; yet I will cite you to a few evidences.

The following is an extract from a decision rendered by Judge L. S. Sherman ' in the Court of Common Pleas, Lake County, Ohio. (See Journal entry, February term, 1880) :

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

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

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

March 16, 1894, Judge John F. Philips, in the Circuit Court of the United States, for the Western District of Missouri, Western Division, rendered a decision in the famous "Temple Lot Case," from which I quote:

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

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

The Utah Church further departed from the principles and doctrines of the Original Church by changing in their teaching the first statement in the Article of Faith which was, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost," and in lieu thereof taught the doctrine of "Adam-god worship." ...

In 1852 the scattered fragments of the church, the remnants of those who held to the fortunes of the present Joseph Smith, son of the so-called
"Martyr," gathered together sufficiently for a nucleus of organization. They took the name of "The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," and avowed their allegiance to the teachings of the ancient church; and their epitome of faith adopted, while containing differences in phraseology, in its essentials is but a reproduction of that of the church as it existed from 1830 to 1844. -- Decision of Judge John F. Philips in Temple Lot Case.

These court decisions must stand until reversed by some higher tribunal, and they should outweigh sensational statements of careless and uninformed writers.

United States Senator Julius C. Burrows was chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections during the long drawn out Reed Smoot Case. Great masses of evidence were examined, and scores of witnesses summoned. No man ever had a better opportunity to study the subject from the standpoint of an unprejudiced student. And at the close of this well-remembered case, Mr. Burrows made a speech in the United States Senate, from which I present two extracts for your consideration:

In order to induce his followers more readily to accept this infamous doctrine, Brigham Young himself invoked the name of Joseph Smith, the Martyr, whom many sincerely believed to be a true prophet, and ascribed to him the reception of a revelation from the Almighty in 1843, commanding the Saints to take unto themselves a multiplicity of wives, limited in number only by the measures of their desires. ... Such the mythical story palmed off on a deluded people. -- Congressional Record, December 13, 1906.

The death of Joseph Smith in 1844, however, carried dismay and demoralization throughout the entire membership of the Mormon Church, scattering its adherents in divers directions and for the time being seemed to presage the complete overthrow and dissolution of the organization.

Recovering, however, from the shock, the scattered bands soon reappeared in various parts ,of the country and promulgated their doctrines with increased zeal, and set to work to reassemble and reorganize their scattered forces, resulting finally in the formation of what is now known and recognized as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa, and presided over by Joseph Smith, a son of the Prophet [at his death succeeded by his son, Frederick Madison Smith].

The courts have repeatedly declared this organization to be the legitimate successor of the original Mormon Church, and its adherents -- numbering some 50,000 [now over 60,000], peaceable, patriotic, and law-abiding citizens scattered throughout the United States in small church societies, conforming to the laws of their country wherever they may be, and adhering to the faith of the founder of their creed, repudiating and denouncing the doctrine of polygamy and its attendant crimes, without temple, endowment house, or secret order -- worship in the open like other church organizations, unquestioned and unmolested. -- Congressional Record, December 13,1906.

At the same time, Senator Fred T. Dubois, another member of the committee, made the following statement:

It is only fair, I think, for me to say -- and I am glad the distinguished Senator from Michigan (Mr. Burrows) treated upon it the other day -- that there is a branch of the Mormons, called the "Josephites," who ought to be separated clearly in the minds of all Senators from the Brighamite Mormons.

The Josephites claim that they are custodians of the church as it was founded. They claim that Brigham Young has interjected doctrines into the church which the Mormons did not accept in the beginning. At any rate, however that may be, the Josephite Mormons, with their headquarters at Lamoni, in the State of Iowa, and wherever they are, no matter in what part of the country, are among the best of our citizens in all respects -- Congressional Record, December 17, 1906.

At the death of our first president, Joseph Smith, in Independence, Missouri, December 10, 1914, the Kansas City Journal had the following editorial:

But in the death of the late venerable head of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the country loses an interesting and useful citizen. ...
Those who ignorantly confounded the Reorganized Church with Mormonism, in the objectionable acceptation of that term, will not appreciate the theological distinctions between the two nor understand that nothing was more hateful to Joseph Smith than the doctrines of Brigham Young, with their polygamous teachings and all the other features which make Utah Mormonism obnoxious in the eyes of the average American. ...
He was the prophet, but first of all he was the Christian gentleman and tl~e good citizen. As such he lived, as such he died, as such he will be remembered by all outside the household of his faith. ...
Kindly, cheerful, loyal to his own creed, tolerant of those of others, standing for modesty, simplicity, good citizenship, embodying in his private and public life all the virtues which adorn a character worthy of emulation -- such is the revelation which Joseph Smith leaves to the world, as the real interpretation of an ecclesiastical message translated into terms of human character. -- Kansas City Journal, December 12, 1914.

The Kansas City Star-Times for November 10, 1915, had the following in reply to an inquiry:

The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the original church in succession, and is in no way connected with the Utah Mormons. The Reorganized Church has always been an active and vigorous opponent of polygamy, and its members have the reputation of being law-abiding, peaceful citizens.

The above facts are clearly set out in the decision of Federal Judge John F. Philips in the famous "Temple Lot" case.

Both the Journal and the Star-Times are published in close proximity to Independence, Missouri, the seat of our largest following.

So, in conclusion, I will repeat the statement, that no investigation of "Mormonism," as it is termed, is complete that ignores the Reorganized Church. Here is a great body of people who command respect because of their morality; and yet they believe in the Book of Mormon and in the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith. They are good citizens.

You must approach them from a different angle than that from which you approach the Mormons of Utah.
You can not wean them from their faith by attacking polygamy, for it has never been part of their creed.

You can not convert them by relating the old stories that prejudiced people told about Joseph Smith, -- to the effect that he was ignorant, dishonest, drunken, etc.

They believe that these stories are not true; and know that just as evil stories were told about Wesley and Luther in their time, and about the prophets of old, not even excepting the pure and holy man of Galilee, Jesus, the Son of God.

Of course I do not expect you to accede to all of our views without further investigation. Yet, I believe that you will concede the justice of the plea presented in the opening paragraphs of this letter.

And as a man of honor and fairness -- as I assume you are -- and as one who holds to the old idea of the "square deal," I trust that in your public and private utterances on this question you will make a clear distinction between our people and the dominant church of Utah, on those, fundamental questions of religion and morality outlined in the opening paragraphs of this communication.

Sincerely yours,
ELBERT A. SMITH.

For the First Presidency of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Joseph Smith's Sermon Against Polygamy

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Joseph Smith's Sermon Against Polygamy

What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives,when I can only find one"—
Joseph Smith (LDS History of the Church 6:411).

[ Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy Index ]Chapter 19

Joseph's Sermon against Polygamy

Joseph Smith's sermon in which he denied being a polygamist is a fitting closing for this volume, even though there are many more conclusive proofs of his innocence in the long and complicated story of Utah Mormon polygamy. The additional proofs are to be treated in later volumes.
In 1844 William Law, a former member of the First Presidency at Nauvoo, formed a conspiracy along with others to depose Joseph and take the leadership of the Church from him. This group of conspirators went so far as to organize a new church called the "Reformed Mormon Church" and issue a call to the Saints to reject Joseph and join the new church (see the Nauvoo Expositor, Friday, June 7, 1844).

William Law and others also went to the county seat at Carthage and gave testimonies which resulted in three indictments being brought against Joseph. One accused him of being guilty of polygamy. The story of this conspiracy will take several chapters in a later volume to discuss in detail, but Joseph's sermon in answer to the polygamy charge is of utmost value here.
William Marks, a member of the grand jury, and Joseph's devoted friend, made him aware of the grand jury's indictments. The news of the indictments arrived in Nauvoo on Saturday, May 25, a month before Joseph's martyrdom, and spread like a prairie fire. By ten o'clock the next morning when the Sunday worship services began, thousands of Saints gathered at the Stand (an outdoor meeting place near the Temple) to hear the Prophet discuss the indictments. Thomas Bullock, one of Joseph's secretaries, recorded the sermon, which appears today in the LDS Church history under the title, "Address of the Prophet—His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo." Excerpts from that sermon are given below.
(It is recommended that the reader study the entire sermon in the LDS History of the Church, Period I, 6:408–412.)

Joseph declared:

Another indictment has been got up against me [the polygamy indictment]. It appears a holy prophet [William Law] has arisen up, and he has testified against me [causing the polygamy indictment to be brought forth].... God knows, then, that the charges against me are false.
I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives. I mean to live and proclaim the truth as long as I can.
This new holy prophet [William Law] has gone to Carthage and swore that I had told him that I was guilty of adultery. This spiritual wifeism! Why, a man dares not speak or wink, for fear of being accused of this.... William Law ... swears that I have committed adultery. I wish the grand jury would tell me who they [the alleged wives] are—whether it will be a curse or blessing to me....
A man asked me whether the commandment [revelation] was given that a man may have seven wives; and now the new prophet has charged me with adultery.... Wilson Law [William's brother] also swears that I told him I was guilty of adultery.... I have rattled chains before in a dungeon for truth's sake. I am innocent of all these charges, and you can bear witness of my innocence, for you know me yourselves.... What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one.
I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago [when charged with polygamy shortly after his marriage to Emma Hale]; and I can prove them all perjurers. (LDS History of the Church 6:410–411; italics added)

Sermons Talking Points

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

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

I had not been married scarcely five minutes ... before it was reported that I had seven wives.
Joseph was plagued with polygamy rumors all his public life and always denied being a polygamist. Either he told the truth and was a true prophet; or he was a polygamist who was a liar and base deceiver, and was therefore a fraud and a false prophet. There is no half-way situation in this matter. As previously stated, he never hesitated to tell the truth about any other doctrine, in spite of persecution—which is evidence that he was also telling the truth in this case.
This spiritual wifeism! Why, a man dares not speak or wink, for fear of being accused of this.
This is a reference to Dr. Bennett's teachings two years earlier that Joseph taught that "promiscuous intercourse between the sexes, was a doctrine believed in by the Latter-Day Saints ... that myself and others of the authorities of the church not only sanctioned, but practiced the same wicked acts" (Times and Seasons 3 [July 1, 1842]: 839–840).

Joseph is declaring that spiritual wifery rumors are still prevalent in Nauvoo, and that they are all false.

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

If Joseph had been guilty of polygamy, and was trying to keep it secret as the Utah polygamists claim, he certainly would not have made this statement.

The truth is that he wanted to get the whole matter out in the open and to put a stop to the polygamous activities which some of the apostles and their friends were practicing at the time.
What a thing it is for a man to be accused of ... having seven wives, when I can only find one.
Here is a definite declaration by the Prophet that he had only one wife—Emma. This statement alone answers the question of whether or not he was guilty of polygamy. Those who later claimed that he had more wives were polygamists themselves, who used his name to cover their own crimes of polygamy. Or, like William Law, claimed Joseph was a polygamist in order to depose him.
I can prove them all perjurers. Joseph's statement that "I can prove them all perjurers" was very significant, for it meant that he had foreseen the coming problem of being accused of polygamy and had taken the measures to be able to prove that he was innocent. He declared in the same sermon:
For the last three years I have a record of all my acts and proceedings, for I have kept several good, faithful, and efficient clerks in constant employ; they have accompanied me everywhere, and carefully kept my history, and they have written down what I have done, where I have been, and what I have said; therefore my enemies cannot charge me with any day, time, or place, but what I have written testimony to prove my actions; and my enemies cannot prove anything against me. (LDS History of the Church 6:409)

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

Joseph Smith III (son of the Martyr) explained:

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

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

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

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

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

This revelation has been in my possession many years; and who has known it? None but those who should know it. I keep a patent lock on my desk, and there does not anything leak out that should not. (Supplement to Millennial Star 15 [1853]: 31; RLDS History of the Church 3:349)

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

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Testimonies Joseph Smith Faught Polygamy

Joseph Smith Faught Polygamy

Joseph Smith asserted:"I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives.... I am innocent of all these charges.... What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers."—Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6:410–411

Israel A. Smith's Defense of Joseph Smith

"Joseph Smith was the greatest victim of fraud and conspiracy of the last 500 years. Nothing like it in recorded history. He was simply lied about when something had to be done to justify ... Utah Mormon polygamy."—President Israel A. Smith, Reorganized Church Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, grandson of Joseph the Martyr (Letter to Pamela Price,September 17, 1956

Mary Page Eaton Testified that Joseph Was Not a Polygamist

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

Joseph Smith III In Defence of His Father

Joseph Smith the martyr

Joseph III testified on other occasions of the peace and harmony between his mother and father. He wrote:It has been reported by those who pretended to be friends of father, that mother was quarrelsome and was antagonistic to my father, and frequently made trouble for him. I have this to say now, that tracing my memory back through the period of time in which my father was permitted to stay with his family, that I never heard any quarreling or harsh language between them under any circumstances, and that even disagreements between them were not conducted in a noisy or angry manner, that mother's language was quiet and temperate, and so was father's. (Journal of History 3 [July 1910]: 337–338)

One Thousand Men Affirmed That Joseph

Was Innocent of Polygamy

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

The LDS Church In Court

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The RLDS/LDS Church in Court
Compiled and Arranged by Elbert A. Smith
A Descendant of Joseph Smith the Martyr

DECISIONS OF UNITED STATES AND CANADIAN COURTS AFFECTING THE STANDING OF
THE REORGANIZED CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS

INTRODUCTION The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized April 6, 1830. Joseph Smith, sometimes known as Joseph Smith the Martyr, was the chief instrument in the hands of God in perfecting this organization. Joseph Smith was slain June 27, 1844. A period of confusion and disorganization ensued. Ambitious leaders arose. Among them was Brigham Young, who led a certain number to Utah, where they acquired more or less temporal power, and where they began to promulgate certain doctrines, such as polygamy, that had been no part of the belief of the church in the days of Joseph the Martyr.

Other members of the original church came together and reorganized on the original plan, forming what has since been termed the Reorganized Church. Joseph Smith, the oldest son of Joseph Smith the Martyr, took his place at the head of the Reorganized Church April 6, 1860. He had received a divine personal call to that position, besides having been blessed and set apart for that work by his father. The Reorganized Church claims to be in fact the church of Christ. It claims further to be the legal heir, and in succession to all rights, privileges, and properties belonging to the church established in 1830. These claims have been challenged, and on several occasions the question has been carried to the civil courts, where evidences could be weighed before unprejudiced tribunals and where an authoritative decision could be rendered.

THE KIRTLAND TEMPLE SUIT

February 23, 1880, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, by its attorneys, appeared before the Court of Common Pleas, Lake County, Ohio, (see journal entry, February term, 1880) as plaintiff, asking for possession of the Kirtland Temple, an edifice erected during the early days of the church, and prior to the death of Joseph Smith the Martyr. The church in Utah, then presided over by John Taylor, was named with others as defendants. Judge L. S. Sherman rendered the following decision: Now at this term of the Court came the Plaintiff by its attorneys, E. L. Kelley, and Burrows and Bosworth, and the Defendants came not, but made default; and thereupon, with the assent of the Court, and on motion and by the consent of the Plaintiff a trial by jury is waived and this cause is submitted to the Court for trial, and the cause came on for trial to the Court upon the pleadings and evidence, and was argued by counsel; on consideration whereof, the Court do find as matters of fact:

1st. That notice was given to the Defendants in this action by publication of notice as required by the statutes of the State of Ohio; except as to the Defendant, Sarah F. Videon, who was personally served with process.

2d. That there was organized on the 6th day of April, 1830, at Palmyra, in the State of New York, by Joseph Smith, a religious society, under the name of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," which in the same year removed in a body and located in Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio; which said Church held and believed, and was founded upon certain well defined doctrines, which were set forth in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Book of Doctrine and Covenants.

3d. That on the 11th day of February, A. D. 1841, one William Marks and his wife, Rosannah, by Warranty Deed, of that date, conveyed to said Joseph Smith as sole Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, being the same Church organized as aforesaid, the lands and tenements described in the petition, and which are described as follows: [The description of the land is omitted. -- E. A. S.]

And upon said lands said Church had erected a church edifice known as The Temple, and were then in the possession and occupancy thereof, for religious purposes, and so continued until the disorganization of said Church, which occurred about 1844. That the main body of said religious society had removed from Kirtland aforesaid, and were located at Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1844, when said Joseph Smith died, and said Church was disorganized and the membership (then being estimated at about 100,000) scattered in smaller fragments, each claiming to be the original and true Church before named, and located in different States and places. That one of said fragments, estimated at ten thousand, removed to the Territory of Utah under the leadership of Brigham Young, and located there, and with accessions since, now constitute the Church in Utah, under the leadership and Presidency of John Taylor, and is named as one of the defendants in this action.

That after the departure of said fragment of said church for Utah, a large number of the officials and membership of the original church which was disorganized at Nauvoo, reorganized under the name of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and on the 5th day of February, 1873, became incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois, and since that time all other fragments of said original Church (except the church in Utah) have dissolved, and the membership has largely become incorporated with said Reorganized Church which is the Plaintiff in this action.

That the said Plaintiff, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a Religious Society, founded and organized upon the same doctrines and tenets, and having the same church organization, as the original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, organized in 1830, by Joseph Smith, and was organized pursuant to the constitution, laws and usages of said original Church, and has branches located in Illinois, Ohio, and other States. That the church in Utah, the Defendant of which John Taylor is president, has materially and largely departed from the faith, doctrines, laws, ordinances and usages of said original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and has incorporated into its system of faith the doctrines of celestial marriage and a plurality of wives, and the doctrine of Adam-god worship, contrary to the laws and constitution of said original Church.

And the Court do further find that the Plaintiff, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is the True and Lawful continuation of, and successor to the said original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, organized in 1830, and is entitled in law to all its rights and property. The leading points sustained by the above quoted decision may be summarized as follows:

The Reorganization is the legal successor to the church organized April 6, 1830, under the leadership of the Prophet Joseph Smith. That polygamy and kindred false doctrines were first promulgated and adopted by the church in Utah, such doctrines not having any place in the faith of the original church during the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith. That the Reorganized Church, being one with the original church in organization and doctrine, is the legal continuation of said church, and heir to all its rights and properties.

THE RULING OF A CANADIAN COURT

May 19, 1893, Hiram Dickout, a regularly ordained priest of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, at Niagara Falls, Canada, solemnized the marriage of Abraham H. Taylor and Alice E. Vance. Priest Dickout was arraigned before a police magistrate and fined ten dollars. The charge in effect was that the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was not a Christian denomination, and hence under the laws of the Dominion (R. S. O., ch. 131, sec. 1) a minister of that church could not legally solemnize a marriage. An appeal was taken and the case came before Chief Justice Armour, in the Court of the Queen's Bench, Chancery, Common Pleas Division of the High Court of Justice, for Ontario, at Toronto, November 28, 1893. The following decision was rendered by Judge Armour, see Ontario Reports, vol. 24, pp. 250-254, also reported in the Toronto Mail, November 28, 1893; also in the Globe:
We think it quite clear that this conviction can not be maintained. The defendant was clearly a duly ordained minister of this religious body, and there is no doubt that it is a religious denomination within the words of the statute. Assuming that Christianity is the law of the land in a sense, there is nothing contrary to Christianity in the tenets of this body. It is true they have some authorized works supplemental to the Bible, but that is the case with every church or denomination.

The Church of England has its creeds, and the Presbyterian Church its confession. That does not make the church an anti-Christian one. The statute should receive a wide construction. It does not say "Christian", but "religious." If it said "Christian," it would exclude Jews. The fundamental law of the province makes no distinction between churches or denominations. Every person is at liberty to worship his Maker in the way he pleases. We have, or ought to have, in this country, perfect freedom of speech and perfect freedom of worship. Conviction quashed.

Under the above decision Latter Day Saints enjoy equal rights with other churches in Canada and retain their standing as a religious body. Enemies of the church sometimes charge that it is not Christian, but the charge can not be maintained before an unprejudiced court.

THE TEMPLE LOT SUIT

This case was tried before Judge John F. Philips, in the Circuit Court of the United States, for the Western District of Missouri, Western Division, at Kansas City, Missouri. The property involved was a tract of land in the city of Independence, Missouri, known as the Temple Lot, acquired by the church in the early thirties, and at a later date claimed by a body of people known as the Church of Christ, more commonly called "Hedrickites."
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ appeared as plaintiff, the Church of Christ or "Hedrickites" as defendant. The dominant church in Utah came to the aid of the defendant, not openly, but to such an extent that Judge Philips in his decision spoke of it as "the power behind the throne." They furnished many leading witnesses, including Wilford Woodruff, president of the Utah church, Lorenzo Snow, president of the Utah twelve, and at least two of the women who had become notorious by reason of their claim that they were plural wives of Joseph Smith the Martyr.

Able attorneys represented both sides, and many witnesses were summoned. An abstract of the evidence fills a book of five hundred and ninety-seven pages. The decision of the judge occupies an additional twenty-eight pages.
The question was largely one of doctrine, and a desperate attempt was made to prove that Joseph Smith the Martyr taught polygamy. Every effort possible was made to break down the claim of the Reorganized Church to succession.

The judge sustained the Reorganized Church on every material point. On an appeal to the Appellate Court the decision as to the possession of the property was set aside and the defendants were permitted to retain possession of the Temple Lot, solely on the ground that the Reorganized Church had not moved soon enough, a question of latches. The decision by Judge Philips as to the weight of evidence presented and the standing of the Reorganized Church as the legal successor to the church established April 6, 1830, was never reversed and still stands. The Reorganized Church was merely unfortunate in not presenting its claims at a date sufficiently early to come within the statute of limitation.
In his decision, rendered March 16, 1894, Judge Philips said:

Beyond all cavil, if human testimony is to place any matter for ever at rest, this church was one in doctrine, government, and purpose from 1830 to June, 1844, when Joseph Smith, its founder, was killed. It had the same federal head, governing bodies, and faith. During this period there was matter fundamental, or affecting its oneness. The only authorized and recognized books of doctrine and laws for the government of the church from 1830 to 1846 were the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which consisted principally of claimed divine revelations to Joseph Smith, was the edition published at Kirtland, Ohio, in 1835, and at Nauvoo in 1845....
There can be no question of the fact that Brigham Young's assumed presidency was a bold and bald usurpation.
The Book of Doctrine and Covenants (printed in 1846) page 411, containing a revelation to Joseph Smith, January 19, 1841, gave unto them "my servant Joseph, to be a presiding elder over all my church, to be a translator, a revelator, a seer, and a prophet." ... The book clearly taught that the succession should descend lineally and go to the first-born. Joseph Smith so taught, and, before his taking off, publicly proclaimed his son Joseph, the present head of Complainant Church, his successor, and he was so anointed....
The Book of Mormon itself inveighed against the sin of polygamy.... Conformably to the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants expressly declared "that we believe that one man should have but one wife, and one woman but one husband." And this declaration of the church on this subject reappeared in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, editions of 1846 and 1856. Its first appearance as a dogma of the church (the dogma of polygamy) was in the Utah Church in 1852.
Claim is made by the Utah Church that this doctrine is predicated of a revelation made to Joseph Smith in July, 1843. No such revelation was ever made public during the life of Joseph Smith, and under the law of the church it could not become an article of faith and belief until submitted to and adopted by the church. This was never done ....
The Utah Church further departed from the principles and doctrines of the original church by changing in their teaching the first statement in the Article of Faith, which was, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost," and in lieu thereof taught the doctrine of "Adam-god worship." ...
It has introduced societies of a secret order, and established secret oaths and covenants, contrary to the book of teachings of the old church. It has changed the duties of the President, and of the Twelve, and established the doctrine to "Obey Counsel," and has changed the order of the "Seventy, or Evangelists." ...
A considerable number of the officers and members of the church at Nauvoo did not ally themselves with any of the factions, and wherever they were they held onto the faith, refused to follow Brigham Young to Utah, and ever repudiated the doctrine of polygamy, which was the great rock of offense on which the church split after the death of Joseph Smith.
In 1852 the scattered fragments of the church, the remnants of those who held to the fortunes of the present Joseph Smith, son of the so-called "Martyr," gathered together sufficiently for a nucleus of organization. They took the name of "The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," and avowed their allegiance to the teachings of the ancient church; and their epitome of faith adopted, while containing differences in phraseology, in its essentials is but a reproduction of that of the church as it existed from 1830 to 1844. To-day they are twenty-five thousand strong. [At present, 1911, the membership is about sixty thousand. -- E. A. S.]

It is charged by the Respondents, as an echo of the Utah Church, that Joseph Smith, "the Martyr," secretly taught and practiced polygamy; and the Utah contingent furnishes the evidence, and two of the women, to prove this fact. It perhaps would be uncharitable to say of these women that they have borne false testimony as to their connection with Joseph Smith; but, in view of all the evidence and circumstances surrounding the alleged intercourse, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that at most they were but sports in "nest hiding."

In view of the contention of the Salt Lake party, that polygamy obtained at Nauvoo as early as 1841, it must be a little embarrassing to President Woodruff of that organization when he is confronted, as he was in the evidence in this case, with a published card in the church organ at Nauvoo in October, 1843, certifying that he knew of no other rule or system of marriage than the one published in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and that the "secret wife system," charged against the church, was a creature of invention by one Doctor Bennett, and that they knew of no such society. That certificate was signed by the leading members of the church, including John Taylor the former President of the Utah Church. And a similar certificate was published by the Ladies' Relief Society of the same place, signed by Emma Smith, the wife of Joseph Smith, and Phoebe Woodruff, wife of the present President Woodruff.

No such marriage ever occurred under the rules of the church, and no offspring came from the imputed illicit intercourse, although Joseph Smith was in the full vigor of young manhood, and his wife Emma, was giving birth to healthy children in regular order, and was enciente at the time of Joseph's death.
But if it were conceded that Joseph Smith, and Hyrum, his brother, did secretly practice concubinage, is the church to be charged with those liaisons, and the doctrine of polygamy to be predicated thereon of the church? If so, I suspect the doctrine of polygamy might be imputed to many of the Gentile churches. Certainly it was never promulgated, taught, nor recognized, as a doctrine of the church prior to the assumption of Brigham Young. -- Decision of Judge Philips in Temple Lot Case, pp. 20-26.

By reading the foregoing decision the reader will discover the following facts:

1. Brigham Young's assumption of the presidency was a bold and bald usurpation. 2.He it was who introduced polygamy and kindred false doctrines.

3.These false doctrines are denounced in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants, which three books were the standards of authority in the church during the days of Joseph Smith, and are still standards of authority to the Reorganized Church.

4.An effort to prove that Joseph Smith was a polygamist can not successfully be made before a competent court that is capable of weighing evidence, not even when his reputed plural wives are present.

5. The Reorganized Church is in line of succession and has kept the faith, having shaped its course in harmony with the word of God and in such a way as to merit the approval of all good men.

A STATEMENT BY HON. JULIUS C. BURROWS AND THE HON. FRED T. DUBOIS

Reed Smoot, a member of the twelve apostles of the dominant church in Utah, having been elected to the United States Senate, took the oath of office, March 5, 1903. A protest against the seating of Reed Smoot having been filed with the Senate, the matter was referred to the Committee on Privileges and Elections.
This committee, composed of leading senators of the United States, summoned many witnesses, including the president of the dominant church in Utah, investigated a great mass of documentary evidence, and made a thorough and exhaustive investigation of "Mormon" history. Their work of investigation continued until June, 1906. A transcript of the evidence taken and speeches made fills four large volumes.
The Committee on Privileges and Elections was not a court, in the strict sense of the term, but it had some of the functions of a court. The Reorganized Church was not directly involved, as it had no interest in the seating of Reed Smoot, but the matter was overruled, divinely or otherwise, so that it terminated to our favor.
For these reasons, we have decided to use in this connection certain statements made by the chairman of the committee, United States Senator Julius C. Burrows, while reviewing the matter before the United States Senate, December 11, 1906. The position of the man making the statements, the unusual opportunity that had been his to discover the truth, the great publicity of the utterance, and the fact that it was made before one of the greatest legislative bodies in the world, gives great weight to that which we shall quote. Concerning the origin of polygamy Senator Burrows said:
In order to induce his followers more readily to accept this infamous doctrine, Brigham Young himself invoked the name of Joseph Smith, the Martyr, whom many sincerely believed to be a true prophet, and ascribed to him the reception of a revelation from the Almighty in 1843, commanding the Saints to take unto themselves a multiplicity of wives, limited in number only by the measures of their desires.... Such the mythical story palmed off on a deluded people. -- Congressional Record, December 13, 1906.

Concerning the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he said:

The death of Joseph Smith in 1844, however, carried dismay and demoralization throughout the entire membership of the Mormon church, scattering its adherents in divers directions and for the time being seemed to presage the complete overthrow and dissolution of the organization.
Recovering, however, from the shock, the scattered bands soon reappeared in various parts of the country and promulgated their doctrines with increased zeal, and set to work to reassemble and reorganize their scattered forces, resulting finally in the formation of what is now known and recognized as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa, and presided over by Joseph Smith, a son of the Prophet. The courts have repeatedly declared this organization to be the legitimate successor of the original Mormon church, and its adherents, numbering some 50,000 peaceable, patriotic, and law abiding citizens scattered throughout the United States in small church societies, conforming to the laws of their country wherever they may be and adhering to the faith of the founder of their creed, repudiating and denouncing the doctrine of polygamy and its attendant crimes, without temple, endowment house, or secret order, worship in the open like other church organizations, unquestioned and unmolested. -- Congressional Record, December 13, 1906.

Another member of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, Senator Fred T. Dubois, in a speech before the United States Senate, December 13, 1906, confirmed the statements made by Mr. Burrows. Senator Dubois said:
It is only fair, I think, for me to say -- and I am glad the distinguished Senator from Michigan (Mr. Burrows) treated upon it the other day -- that there is a branch of the Mormons, called the "Josephites," who ought to be separated clearly in the minds of all Senators from the Brighamite Mormons. The Josephites claim that they are the custodians of the church as it was founded. They claim that Brigham Young has interjected doctrines into the church which the Mormons did not accept in the beginning. At any rate, however that may be, the Josephite Mormons, with their headquarters at Lamoni, in the State of Iowa, and wherever they are, no matter in what part of the country, are among the best of our citizens in all respects. -- Congressional Record, December 17, 1906.