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4. Joseph was sealed to men and women. They were not sexual
relationships.
Joseph wasn't creating marriages of extra wives. He was creating
sealings of individuals to him.
The doctrine or sealing power of Elijah is as follows if
you have power to seal on earth & in heaven then we should be
Crafty, the first thing you do go & seal on earth your sons
& daughters unto yourself, & yourself unto your fathers in
eternal glory, & go ahead and not go back, but use a
little Craftiness & seal all you can; & when you get to
heaven tell your father that what you seal on earth should be
sealed in heaven. (Words of Joseph Smith, p. 331,
Wilford Woodruff's report)
Notice how the purpose of the marriages or sealings are explained by
Joseph to Mary Elizabeth Rollins.
Smith also told Mary, "I know that I shall be saved in
the Kingdom of God. I have the oath of God upon it and God cannot
lie. All that he gives me I shall take with me for I have that
authority and that power conferred upon me." (In Sacred
Loneliness, p. 212)
Notice also that when the women give an affidavit to testify about
their link with Joseph, they DON'T say that they married
him, they say, "married or sealed." For one of them
she only says she was sealed. Notice also how long these
affidavits are after the time of Joseph Smith. Their own
memory of the events with Joseph could have been influenced by the
many polygamous marriages (including themselves) that occurred after
the time of Joseph Smith. They may not have fully understood or
still remembered that these were not marriages, but instead only
sealings.
"married or sealed Louisa Beaman to
Joseph Smith"
Patty Bartlett - "sealed to Joseph
Smith" signed June
1, 1867
"she witnessed the marrying or
sealing of Fanny Murray to President Joseph Smith"
Lucy Walker - "married or sealed for
time and all eternity to the prophet Joseph Smith" signed
Aug 9, 1869
Joseph wasn't trying to marry additional wives for this earthly
existence, he was building a kingdom in the next world and was
bringing with him those that were sealed or adopted to him.
This is shown in the case of Jane Manning James a black woman that
lived with Joseph and Emma and worked in their household. With other
women this might have been considered a marriage proposal, but this
is indicative of what was happening, Joseph wasn't marrying other
women---they were sealed to him.
Sister Emma asked me one day if I
would like to be adopted to them as their child and I did not
answer her. She said, “I will wait a while and let you consider
it.” She waited two weeks before she asked me again. When she did,
I told her, “No, Ma’am!” because I did not understand or know what
it meant. . . . I did not comprehend (Goldberg, James, “The
Autobiography of Jane Manning James")
There is not a lot of information about the practice of adoptions.
Gordon Irving, who worked for the Historical Department
of the church, wrote: "No consensus exists with regard to the date
when the first adoptions were performed; any conclusions as to
whether the ordinance was practiced during Joseph Smith’s lifetime
must be viewed as tentative. It is certainly possible, perhaps
probable, that Joseph Smith did initiate certain trusted leaders
into the adoptionary order as early as 1842." (Brigham Young
University Studies, Spring 1974, page 295)
As reported by someone who
has talked to Joseph Smith during the last few years in the
spirit realm.
Joseph told me about it as we discussed the whole
polygamy topic. The part with men, women, and children sealed to
him was related to a proxy ceremony where he stood as the Savior,
and people were sealed to him to represent coming into the Church
of the Firstborn. The account with the “flaming sword” did occur,
but it was a dark angel and Joseph cast him out. Much different
than the narrative that was shared in church history. PR
The Adversary will visit people as an angel of light. This
occurred to Joseph Smith when he was commanded to practice
polygamy or he would be destroyed. This second hand account is
often used to show that Joseph was reluctant, but obedient. In
fact, he cast out the dark spirit in the name of the Lord. . . . A
true messenger doesn’t threaten you in the name of God. Their
light is pale in comparison to an angel from the Throne. Their
words are not uplifting or point to Christ, but often speak to our
comfort, pride, and carnal desires.
After Joseph's death, Brigham didn't understand the
principles of adoption. Even though he talked about the "law of
adoption" in Winter Quarters, he still didn't understand it. Shortly
thereafter he had a dream where he conversed with Joseph and the one
question he asked Joseph was about adoption. However, you will
notice that Joseph didn't answer his question but instead told him
to focus on listening to the Spirit.
I then discovered there was a hand rail between us,
Joseph stood by a window, and to the southwest of him it was very
light. I was in the twilight90 and to the north of me it was very
dark; I said, “Brother Joseph, the brethren you know well, better
than I do; you raised them up, and brought the Priesthood to us. The
brethren have a great anxiety to understand the law
of adoption or sealing principles; and if you
have a word of counsel for me, I should be glad to receive it.” -
Notice that Joseph ignores Brigham's question, but gives him some
advice instead.
Joseph stepped toward me, and looking very earnestly, yet
pleasantly said, “Tell the people to be humble and
faithful, and be sure to keep the spirit of the Lord and it will
lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the small voice;
it will teach you what to do and where to go; it will
yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their
hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to
them, their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can tell the
Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits; it will whisper peace
and joy to their souls; it will take malice, hatred, strife and
all evil from their hearts; and their whole desire will be to do
good, bring forth righteousness and build up the kingdom of God.
Tell the brethren if they will follow the spirit of Lord they will
go right. Be sure to tell the people to keep the Spirit of the
Lord; and if they will, they will find themselves just as they
were organized by our Father in Heaven before they came into the
world. Our Father in Heaven organized the human family, but they
are all disorganized and in great confusion. (The Complete
Discourses of Brigham Young, Vol. 1, p. 188.)
Eliza R. Snow was one of the women sealed to Joseph. Daniel Lund a
RLDS missionary wrote to Eliza and asked about her relationship to
Joseph. She replied:
You asked (referring to President Smith), did he
authorize or practice spiritual wifery? Were you a spiritual wife?
I certainly shall not acknowledge myself of having been a carnal
one. (Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Vol. 1: History,
p. 287)
The Meaning of Words: "Sealing" vs
"Marriage"
- From Denver Snuffer's "Joseph's Monogamy"
"I have been chained. I have
rattled chains before in a dungeon for the truth's sake. I am
innocent of all these charges, and you can bear witness of my
innocence, for you know me yourselves."
—Joseph Smith (Words of Joseph Smith , p 376, May 1844 )
Such as there is, the contemporary proof that Joseph was a
polygamist is much thinner than is often presented. The
contemporary proof that exists could be discounted heavily by the
possibility that Joseph was doing something not well-known or
understood (sealings) and there was apparently an active element
within the church doing something else (spiritual wifery/polygamy)
and claiming to do so with Joseph’s approval. The mix of confusion
about what Joseph was really doing and schemes to frame him for
something he wasn’t doing could possibly prove
a toxic waste to Joseph’s true legacy.
Lorenzo
Snow, testifying in the Temple Lot case, stated:
[In 1843] I had a private interview with Joseph
Smith. In that private interview was the time when he told me he
had taken my sister [Eliza R Snow] as a wife. He did not
say she was taken as a wife and married to him, he
said she was sealed to him, sealed to him for eternity.
I was not acquainted with the practice of sealing at that time.
I had never heard of it before. I never saw the ceremony of
sealing performed in the days of Joseph Smith. I never
knew anything about the practice of sealing during the days of
Joseph Smith. He didn't tell me anything about it at
the time I had this conversation with him. (Abstract
Evidence Temple Lot Case U.S.C.C. p. 317)
Snow appears to conflate the idea of sealing with marriage
initially but then admits the ceremony was not actually a
marriage. He also admits he never knew of or saw anything relating
to “sealing” while Joseph lived. Perhaps his poor understanding of
what Joseph was really doing was shared by others who later turned
the practice of sealing into polygamy. Considering Snow was part
of the LDS polygamists, the distinction he draws is significant.
Another example is found in the words of Samuel W. Richards during
the Temple Lot case. Richards, the nephew of apostle Willard
Richards, was asked what he knew about “the system of plural
marriage” in Nauvoo. He stated “I did not hear anything or see
anything direct from Joseph Smith himself while I was there in
Nauvoo but others who were his clerks and secretaries and such
like I had communication from them while I was living there on
that subject". He then specifically named his uncle Willard, who
was one of Joseph’s secretaries, as having been the one who taught
him about plural marriage. He further clarified:
I heard Joseph Smith teach the Quorum of Twelve
(perhaps not a full quorum) the principles of sealing.
I never heard him teach it publicly, nor to any considerable
number of people. He called it the order of celestial
marriage,
sealing a man to his wife for eternity. I never heard
the principle of sealing taught that a man could be
sealed to another man's wife for eternity; I never
heard him teach that another man's wife could be sealed to him
for eternity. I never heard him teach either
publicly or privately that a man could live with two
women in this life as his wives at the same time;
never heard him teach that.
Samuel Richards gives us another witness that what Joseph was
teaching related to “sealing” and was never taught by him in the
context of plural wives. We also learn that others, such as
Willard Richards, were privately expanding Joseph’s teachings
into plural marriage. Like Snow, Samuel Richards was a
polygamist in the LDS church so the distinction he makes is
significant.
Coincidentally,
LDS polygamy scholar Brian Hales relies on a similar
statement by Samuel Richards to prove the exact
opposite that Joseph did teach polygamy in private.
Hales quotes Richards as saying: “I heard him [Joseph
Smith] teach it [plural marriage] privately to quite a
number at different times.” Hales inserts the words
“plural marriage” into the quote whereas Richards is
clear in the above testimony that he only heard Joseph
teach about “sealings” and that he never heard Joseph
speak about plural marriage. This isn’t necessarily a
sign of intentionally dishonest scholarship on the
part of Hales but it does at least show a scholarly
prejudice toward a particular narrative that only
serves to cloud this issue further.
Samuel Richards’ account is matched by James Whitehead,
Joseph’s private secretary at the time of his martyrdom.
“I
heard about the order of the church on the
question of sealing...in the early part of the
year 1843...or the latter part of 1842. That was
the ordinance of sealing as they called it, of
husband and wife. They would be married according
to the ordinances of the laws of God, not only for
time but for eternity as well. That applied only
to husband and wife, and a man could not have but
one wife, they were not allowed to have more than
one wife, but could have one wife and could be
sealed to her for this life, as well as for the
life to come.” (Abstract
Evidence Temple Lot Case U.S.C.C. p. 475)
Joseph’s efforts to teach the idea of sealing appears to
have been clouded by others who simultaneously sought to
establish plural marriage as an extension of sealings.
The distinction shown by the words of Lorenzo Snow,
Samuel Richards, and James Whitehead are congruent with
what Joseph spoke before the Nauvoo City Council only
weeks before his death, saying that polygamy was not to
be practiced and that “men in this life must be married
in view of eternity”.
If polygamy was a divergence from what Joseph really
taught and practiced, it wouldn’t be the only instance.
Another clear example of divergence was same-sex
sealing. Soon after Joseph’s death, Brigham Young
expanded the sealing practice to include sealing
living men to other living men. There is no
evidence of this practice while Joseph was alive.
However, it quickly became a common practice after
Joseph’s death before being abandoned
altogether by the LDS church in 1894. Given
Brigham’s willingness to expand the sealing doctrine so
quickly and so dramatically it raises the question of
whether plural marriage itself was an innovation. This
pattern of divergence that began at the death of Joseph
presents significant problems for the commonly accepted
polygamy narrative.
Another suspicious trend is the rapid increase in plural
marriages after Joseph died in June 1844. In the six
months of 1844 following Joseph’s death, Brigham Young
increased his plural wives from 4 to 14. Heber C Kimball
increased from 1 to 10. In the church at large, there
were 56 new plural marriages in 1845. And
in 1846, there were an astonishing 255.
One must wonder why Brigham Young would so dramatically
and so quickly increase the pace of his own and others’
polygamous unions compared to what was allegedly done
during Joseph’s lifetime. In a setting where Joseph was
indeed a monogamist who disciplined polygamists and a
small group of men was surreptitiously practicing
unsanctioned plural marriage until it could be done more
openly, these facts make more sense.
The disparity between what Joseph practiced and the
divergent behavior that followed after him raises the
possibility that Joseph was doing something other than
plural marriage. It raises the possibility that even the
women who participated in these sealings didn’t fully
understand what was occurring and later became convinced
they were “married” to Joseph rather than “sealed” to
him. These sealings, whether marriages or not, were
later used to justify
Brigham’s practice of plural marriage.
Once settled in Utah, Brigham Young led an isolated
community, controlled by a hierarchy upon which LDS
members were dependent for food, title to real property,
access to water, lumber and livestock, and which
organized the
only government controlling the community for nearly a
decade.
Brigham’s “Mormon Reformation” of the 1850s implied
potential blood
atonement for apostasy. In his zeal to preach as
he felt called to do, open dissent became unthinkable.
It should not be surprising that such an environment
could produce a people unable or unwilling to question
the innovation of plural marriage despite Joseph’s
consistent efforts to rid the church of it during his
lifetime.
The difficulty in unraveling the topic of plural
marriage is that so many witnesses require us to decide
when they were speaking truthfully and when they were
not. Or in other cases, when they knew what they were
talking about and when they did not. They uniformly tell
the story differently, in versions that are mutually
exclusive from one another. In contrast to that
conundrum, we have the statements of Joseph Smith, Emma
Smith, and Hyrum Smith who are on record in multiple
instances denying plural marriage. They never changed
their stories. Words matter a great deal. Based on
existing evidence, a reasonable observer could determine
that the practice of sealing morphed into polygamy
despite Joseph’s efforts to prevent it.
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