Richard Bushman’s comments (excerpted) on chapters 4-8 of draft #2 of JSP: Theology received
December 28, 2009. Also comments on SECTION TWO
A Review of the Theology of Joseph Smith’s Polygamy [undated]
Through vertical sealing ordinances, we become linked with our ancestors in a chain
leading back to Adam. (Sealings between biologically unrelated individuals, called “adoption
sealings,” will be discussed in chapter 333.) The Prophet explained the importance:
For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect.
Neither can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also; for it is
necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, which dispensation is now
beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of
dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days
of Adam even to the present time. And not only this, but those things which never have been
revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall
be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. (D&C
128:18.)
It is my understanding that Joseph did not teach the sealing of parents to children or deceased
husbands to deceased wives in his own time. That was introduced by Wilford Woodruff in the
1890s. Is this correct? The way you describe sealings here it sounds as if Joseph was teaching
sealings that go back through time. All he taught was baptism for the dead as I understand it;
that was the sealing link.
No Vertical Sealings Outside of a Temple
On March 10, 1844, the Prophet encouraged the Saints to seek out their dead progenitors:
“the doctrin 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.”1
Despite Joseph Smith’s excitement for binding families together, he was severely limited
in his application of the ordinances sealing parents to children.2 Why? Because vertical proxy
sealings cannot be performed outside of a temple.3 In April 1843, the Prophet taught: “There
are certain ordinances and principles that when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a
place or house built for that purpose.”4 A year later, he lamented: “We need the temple more
than anything else.”5 But wasn’t he referring to baptisms for the dead?
Brigham Young explained in 1870: “Men will have to be sealed to Each other
[vertically] untill we go on to Father Adam. Men will have to be sealed to Men so as to link the
Chain from begining to End & all Children will have to be sealed to their Parents that was born
before they had their Endowments. But this must be in A Temple & No whare Els.”6 Three
years later he elaborated: All right, this sounds like sealings going back through time.
We also have the privilege of sealing women to men [in eternal marriage], without a
temple… but when we come to other sealing ordinances, ordinances pertaining to the holy
Priesthood, to connect the chain of the Priesthood from Father Adam until now, by sealing
children to their parents, being sealed for our forefathers, etc., they cannot be done without a
temple. When the ordinances are carried out in the temples that will be erected, men will be
sealed to their fathers, and those who have slept, clear up to Father Adam. This will have to be
done, because of the chain of the Priesthood being broken upon the earth…
This Priesthood has been restored again, and by its authority we shall be connected with
our fathers, by the ordinance of sealing, until we shall form a perfect chain from Father Adam
down to the closing up scene. This ordinance will not be performed anywhere but in a temple;
neither will children be sealed to their living parents in any other place than a temple.7
Accordingly, no vertical sealings were performed during Joseph Smith’s lifetime.8 He
died without experiencing a sealing ordinance binding him to his own parents or to any of his
own children.9 Are you saying that Joseph taught the doctrine of sealing but did not practice it
because he had no temple?
Since no one on earth was sealed to anyone in the early 1840s, every person needed a
vertical sealing. The Prophet was anxious to fulfill his personal responsibility to participate in
the construction of the genealogical tree whose branches would eventually include the very last
generations of this earth. Despite the absence of a functioning temple in 1842, Joseph’s
optimism flourished:
Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage,
brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth
break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel,
who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their
prison; for the prisoners shall go free.
Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry
lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with
gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for
joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout
for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how
glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and
honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers! (D&C 128:2223.) Are you sure this refers to the sealing work?
For eight weeks in the winter of 1845-46, fulfillment of the prophecy that there would be
the “welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and
be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time” (D&C 128:18) was first realized.
Additional vertical sealings would have to wait the building of newer temples in the West. Eight
years after their arrival in Salt Lake City, the Saints dedicated the Endowment House on May,
1855, but no parents to children sealing ordinances were performed there.10 Professor Richard E.
Bennett wrote: “The Endowment House like its predecessor the Council House [in Salt Lake
City], provided a place for baptisms and confirmations for the living and the dead, endowments
for the living (including washings and anointings), and marriage sealings for both the living and
the dead [the dead sealed to living spouses].”11 On January 11, 1877, the first sealings in this
dispensation of deceased women to deceased men took place in the St. George temple.12 Okay.
This is how I understand it. Vertical sealings in past times were delayed until later. Are you
assuming Joseph taught the doctrine? If so, why was it not practiced?
Vicarious Ordinance Work – a Focus of the Millennium
Echoing Joseph Smith’s belief that this proxy ordinance work for the dead would “take at
least a thousand years,”13 Brigham Young indicated that it would be a primary effort of the
millennium:
As I have frequently told you, that is the work of the Millennium. It is the work that has
to be performed by the seed of Abraham, the chosen seed, the royal seed, the blessed of the Lord,
those the Lord made covenants with. They will step forth, and save every son and daughter of
Adam who will receive salvation here on the earth; and all spirits in the spirit world will be
preached to, conversed with, and the principles of salvation carried to them, that they may have
the privilege of receiving the Gospel; and they will have plenty of children here on the earth to
officiate for them in those ordinances of the Gospel that pertain to the flesh.14 This does not
specifically mention sealing, and considering the controversy I don’t think we can assume BY
had sealings in mind.
Summary
Joseph Smith taught that without proper authority, covenants and agreements made
during mortality will end at death. He disclosed that he received priesthood sealing keys from
Elijah April 3, 1836, keys that permit horizontal marriage sealings of a husband to a wife and
vertical sealings binding parents to their children. [I don’t recall a passage where Joseph Smith
included vertical sealings of deceased parents to children among the keys of Elijah. If one is
there, it must be stressed. Through such sealings, a family chain back to Adam and forward to
the last generations of the earth can be created. Sealing of parents to children can occur to living
individuals, but will be primarily accomplished vicariously for the dead. A primary work of the
millennium will be to complete this ordinance work.
The regulation of sealing ordinances is extremely strict. Vertical parent to children
sealings must be done in a temple setting, apparently with no exceptions. Joseph Smith
experienced no vertical sealings during his lifetime; the first were performed in the Nauvoo
Temple in January, 1846. But only two generations.
Hyrum Smith also explained vicarious horizontal marriage sealings:
I married me a wife, and I am the only one who had any right to her. We had five
children, the covenant was made for our lives. She fell into the grave before God showed us his
order. God has shown me that the covenant is dead, and had no force, neither could I have her in
the resurrection, but we should be as the angels--it troubled me. President Joseph said you can
have her sealed to you upon the same principles as you can be baptized for the dead. I enquired
what can I do for any second wife? You can also make a covenant with her for eternity and have
her sealed to you by the authority of the priesthood.
I named the subject to my present wife, and she said, “I will act as proxy for your wife
that is dead, and I will be sealed to you for eternity myself for I never had any other husband. I
love you and I do not want to be separate from you nor be forever alone in the world to come”…
What honest man or woman can find fault with such a doctrine as this? None. It is a doctrine not
to be preached to the world; but to the Saints who have obeyed the gospel and gathered to Zion.
It is glad tiding of great joy.15 Good evidence that sealing of dead people to live husbands was
possible.
Parley P. Pratt explained: “In order to multiply organized bodies, composed of spiritual element,
worlds and mansions composed of spiritual element would be necessary as a home, adapted to
their existence and enjoyment. As these spiritual bodies increased in numbers, other spiritual
worlds would be necessary, on which to transplant them.”16 He also hoped that we “may be
called upon with the other sons of God to shout for joy, at the organization of new systems of
worlds, and new orders of being; over which we may reign as kings.”17 Orson Pratt instructed:
As soon as each God has begotten many millions of male and female spirits, and his
Heavenly inheritance becomes too small, to comfortably accommodate his great family, he, in
connection with his sons, organizes a new world, after a similar order to the one which we now
inhabit, where he sends both the male and female spirits to inhabit tabernacles of flesh and bones.
Thus each God forms a world for the accommodation of his own sons and daughters who are sent
forth in their times and seasons, and generations to be born into the same. The inhabitants of each
world are required to reverence, adore, and worship their own personal father who dwells in the
Heaven which they formerly inhabited.18
If the [mortal] children [of God] have been married for eternity, as well as for time, by
the authority of God, the same as their first Parents were, they will, with them, raise up, after the
resurrection, an endless posterity of immortal beings. In this manner, the children, as well as the
parents, are placed in a redeemed condition, wherein they can eternally obey the command to
multiply…
To those who keep the law through the eternal covenant of marriage, shall honor, and
glory, and dominion, and eternal lives, be added to endless ages in worlds without end. By such
shall worlds be peopled with their own sons and daughters; and their eternal kingdoms shall be
multiplied as the stars of Heaven which no man can number. By such shall God be glorified, in
the continuation of His works, in the extension of the Universe, in the redemption and
glorification of worlds, and in the increase of intelligent, immortal, Godlike beings who inherit all
the fulness of His own great perfections.19
[Without objecting to your argument, I will make one comment on the structure of Mormon
document. You are proceeding as if it is all of a harmonious consistency. What Orson or
Parley or Brigham say represents what Mormon doctrine is. Another school of historians
thinks of individual statements of doctrine as having an individual quality to them. Any given
writer may not speak for the entire church. There would be Mormons who would demure or
state the matter differently. Orson Pratt in this later conception of doctrine would represent
the thought of one active mind striving to bring consistency to the legacy of Joseph Smith.
There would be other variants and expressions, not all of them consistent with Orson. The
same trunk could produce many branches.]
There is no spirit but what was pure and holy when it came here from the celestial world. There
is no spirit among the human family that was begotten in hell; none that were begotten by angels,
or by any inferior being. They were not produced by any being less than our Father in heaven.
He is the Father of our spirits; and if we could know, understand, and do His will, every soul
would be prepared to return back into His presence. And when they get there, they would see that
they had formerly lived there for ages, that they had previously been acquainted with every nook
and corner, with the palaces, walks, and gardens; and they would embrace their Father, and He
would embrace them and say, "My son, my daughter, I have you again;" and the child would say,
"O my Father, my Father, I am here again."20
[Do you know the article by Charles Harrell, “The Development of the Doctrine of
Pre-Existence, 1830-1844,” BYU Studies 28(2) (1988): 75-96 which argues Joseph
never taught spirit birth but his successors did almost immediately after he died?]
I take it you don’t wish to comment on the incongruity of billions of spirit children all
inhabiting the royal palace and being familiar with all its nooks and crannies—or the huge
time span required to birth all these children—or the nature of intelligence before it was
incorporated into a spiritual body?
[Who or what produces the spirit bodies of animals?]
Their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out
of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world.
Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage;
but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those
who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.
For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain
separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from
henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever...
Broad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to the deaths; and many there are that go
in thereat, because they receive me not, neither do they abide in my law. (D&C 132:15-17, 25.)
[I don’t think this refers to never married people; only to the married who
refused to be sealed.]
Individuals who are not sealed inhabit the Terrestrial and
Telestial Kingdoms “singly” throughout eternity
[I thought the unsealed but righteous went to a lower degree of the celestial.
You will wound many faithful singles in the church if you relegate them to the
terrestrial kingdom.]
Inherent in the doctrine of eternal marriage is the unavoidable inclusion of plural
marriage. Why? Because at the end of the world, after all men and women have been judged,
the number of worthy men and women will probably not be exactly equal. If monogamy was the
only acceptable form of eternal marriage, individuals who were worthy but single could not be
exalted, having no eternal spouse. Some form of polygamy is needed or else worthy persons
would be denied exaltation unjustly.[Okay. I can see you are getting around to provide for the
never married on this earth.]
“Polygamy” means multiple marriages and has two forms. “Polygyny” is defined as one man
with more than one wife and “polyandry” as one woman with more than one husband (see
discussion in volume one, chapter eleven). In Joseph Smith’s theology, there would be more
worthy women than men at the judgment and resurrection. He taught the polygyny, when
authorized by God, was divinely accepted and that true polyandry was always adultery (D&C
132:63).21 [Do you think that polyandry is implicitly allowed for in D&C 132:41?]Without
divinely sanctioned polygyny, worthy single women might be denied exaltation simply because
there were not enough worthy men to go around. In 1886, Orson Pratt expounded: “Thus you
see that the very moment we admit the eternity of marriage…we undertake to follow that pattern,
plurality necessarily comes along; either marriage has no bearing upon eternity, and no bearing
upon immortality and immortal beings, or else plurality of wives necessarily must exist in
eternity.”22
Shall the daughters of Eve be placed in a position that they shall be deprived of the
highest degree of exaltation hereafter? No, no, this is contrary to the law of heaven, to the will of
God and the plan of salvation and exaltation, consequently this doctrine is introduced among the
children of men, and it must be carried out and obeyed, and who shall hinder it, for the Lord
Almighty has commanded it, and who says it shall not be so? This doctrine must be fulfilled, and
the people must be saved who will be saved.23
[Good quote. Supports your logic above.]
As illustrated above, of necessity, plural marriage exists as a doctrinal element in Joseph
Smith’s theology, but it does not comprise a large part of it. Neither does it appear that the
doctrines taught by the Prophet were purposefully designed to convince the listener/reader that
plural marriage was a legitimate practice. The religious ideology introduced to the world by
Joseph Smith includes polygamy as one small concept that was necessary, but not fundamental
or dominant.
[Interesting judgment. It interprets polygamy as an expedient, a way to accommodate
the surplus of single women in the afterlife. I would be happy to go along with that
explanation, but would nineteenth-century Mormon theologians relegate the principle to this
reduced status. I have the impression that they thought polygamy was a superior organization
for society and essential to the exaltation of humankind.]
Critics who resort to reductionist theories like the idea that Joseph Smith’s libido
empowered the establishment of plural marriage, fail to explain the complex theology he
introduced that legitimized its practice. Good point
Wilford Woodruff recorded in his journal on February 12, 1870, that a Church member, John
Holement “made a long speech upon the subject of polygamy. He contended that no person
could have a Celestial glory unless he had a plurality of wives.” In response, President Brigham
Young clarified that “there would be men saved in the Celestial Kingdom of God with one wife
with many wives...”24 On another occasion, Brigham Young taught: “A man may embrace the
Law of Celestial Marriage in his heart and not take the second wife and be justified before the
Lord.”25 [What is the Law of Celestial Marriage? This quote implies it was polygamy. If it is
the statement also implies that the principle of plural marriage must be embraced in one’s
heart even if not practiced.]
A February 10, 1873 record of the Salt Lake School of the Prophets reads: “George B.
Wallace asked if Wm Clayton was correct in his sermon yesterday in the 17th Ward ‘That no man
who has only one wife in this probation can ever enter Celestial Kingdom,’ to which WW
[Wilford Woodruff] expressed disagreement and John Taylor said ‘he did not believe in the
views advanced by Bro Wm Clayton.’”26[Why then did William Clayton so preach? There
must have been a common feeling that plural marriage was essential.]
In 1884, First Presidency Counselor, George Q. Cannon, stated that, “He believed there
would be men in the Celestial Kingdom that had but one wife.”27 First Presidency Counselor
John Henry Smith, himself a polygamist, recalled in 1900 that APresident Young once proposed
that we marry but one wife.@28
Quoting Out of Context
For Utah Latter-day Saints, statements made before 1890 when plural marriage
was taught as a commandment can be quoted out of context to create the appearance that Church
leaders taught that all men in the Celestial Kingdom are polygamists.
A common quotation used to imply the need for all exalted beings to practice polygamy
was made in 1866 by Brigham Young: “The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of
God, are those who enter into polygamy. Others attain unto a glory and may even be permitted to
come into the presence of the Father and the Son; but they cannot reign as kings in glory.”29
However, earlier in the same discourse President Young acknowledged the more general
commandment: “If you desire with all your hearts to obtain the blessings which Abraham
obtained, you will be polygamists at least in your faith, or you will come short of enjoying the
salvation and the glory which Abraham has obtained.”30 [Which again implies that plural
marriage is the higher and the preferred state—and perhaps will be practiced in the next life.]
Another similar text comes from an 1878 discourse of Apostle Joseph F. Smith:
Some people have supposed that the doctrine of plural marriage was a sort of superfluity,
or non-essential, to the salvation or exaltation of mankind. In other words, some of the Saints
have said, and believe, that a man with one wife, sealed to him by the authority of the Priesthood
for time and eternity, will receive an exaltation as great and glorious, if he is faithful, as he
possibly could with more than one. I want here to enter my solemn protest against this idea, for I
know it is false.31 [Let me say that you are to be commended for bringing up the contrary
evidence and dealing with it. This increases the reader’s confidence in your candor.]
Was Elder Smith declaring that all men, irrespective of when and where they lived on
earth, were required to enter plural marriage to be exalted? Toward the beginning of his talk, he
clarified the scope of his declaration: “It [plural marriage] is a principle that pertains to eternal
life, in other words, to endless lives, or eternal increase. It is a law of the Gospel pertaining to
the celestial kingdom, applicable to all gospel dispensations, when commanded and not
otherwise, and neither acceptable to God or binding on man unless given by commandment, not
only so given in this dispensation.”32 [This is a critical point in my opinion.] Later in the same
discourse Elder Smith clarified: “I understand the law of celestial marriage to mean that every
man in this Church, who has the ability to obey and practice it in righteousness and will not, shall
be damned, I say I understand it to mean this and nothing less.”33 Proper authority is always
required or a person does not have “the ability to obey.” So if the man holding the keys were to
withhold authorization, irrespective of the reason, the ability to practice plural marriage (as
commanded at times by God) would instantly end. A clever point but not entirely in keeping
with the spirit of the statement.
It is true that in a few instances, God has commanded His followers to practice plural
marriage.34 But to assert that all exalted men, regardless of when and where they lived on earth,
will be eternal polygamists, is not supported by Joseph Smith’s teachings or those who heard him
teach. I agree with you, but I am not entirely convinced that the 19th century leaders did not
come close to teaching plural marriage as essential. My own opinion is that they went too far
in their effort to support an unpopular and difficult doctrine.
SECTION TWO
A Review of the Theology of Joseph Smith’s Polygamy
This section will examine Joseph Smith’s polygamy from a theological perspective.
Identifying precisely what he taught is challenging because we have so few teachings from him
on the topic. I will consider the revelation written July 12, 1843 as a genuine product of the
Prophet, calling it the “revelation on celestial marriage” or section 132 of the LDS (Utah church)
Doctrine and Covenants. I realize that for many decades certain reviewers, particularly members
of the RLDS Church (now Community of Christ), asserted it to be the work of Brigham Young.
However, I believe that the balance of evidence demonstrates it to have been dictated by Joseph
Smith (see Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: History chapters twenty-three and twenty-five). It appears
to be the only document from Joseph Smith expounding the practice of plural marriage.35
A second source of the Prophet’s teachings regarding plural marriage is found in excerpts
from William Clayton’s journal. Clayton recorded in his journal several important instructions at
the time they were related. These two sources comprise the only teachings we have from Joseph
Smith on the topic of plural marriage recorded contemporaneously.36
Beyond these two documents, the remainder of Joseph Smith’s theology will be derived
primarily from individuals who personally heard him teach on the subject. Specifically, the
teachings from Brigham Young, John Taylor, Parley P. and Orson Pratt, Orson Hyde, George A.
Smith, Eliza R. Snow, and a few others, will be considered. I realize that assuming their
teachings on plural marriage originated with the Prophet is subject to criticism, because there is
no guarantee that they are repeating instructions received from him. Some of those individuals,
Orson Pratt as an example, undoubtedly elaborated beyond Joseph’s teachings in their discourses
and writings. In quoting these first-generation pupils of the Prophet, I acknowledge this possible
limitation.
Chapter Five
Joseph Smith’s Teachings Regarding Parents to Children Sealings
In the preceding chapters we have examined a number of the explanations, advanced by
both believers and unbelievers, to explain why Joseph Smith established the practice of plural
marriage in his own life and among his followers. Most of these discussions reduce the process
to one or two simple motivations. For example, Andrea Moore-Emmett, feminist writer of the
2004 book God’s Brothel37 stated: “Polygamy is generally driven by two things: power and
sex.”38 On the other hand, apologists may observe that God both permitted and sometimes
commanded polygamy among Old Testament patriarchs and the Israelites, and affirm the
Prophet was simply restoring this practice.
Notwithstanding these assertions, a closer look at the Joseph Smith teachings demonstrates
that the theology undergirding the practice of plural marriage is much more complex and
multifaceted. In fact, a study of the theology expounded by the Prophet reveals that plural
marriage was but one component of his expanding ideology. Accordingly, to understand the
theology of Joseph Smith’s polygamy, one must comprehend the broader picture, the picture
created by his writing and revelations, including those that do not overtly mention plural
marriage.
A key element in Joseph Smith’s theology is eternal sealing. He taught that without
authorized priesthood sealing ordinances, no agreement made on earth will persist beyond death:
“No man can obtain an eternal blessing unless the contract or covenant be made in view of
eternity. All contracts in view of this life only terminate with this life.”39 In the revelation on
celestial marriage he further explained:
All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections,
associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of
promise, of him who is anointed… are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection
from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead…
And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities,
or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me or by my word, saith the
Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the
resurrection, saith the Lord your God.
For whatsoever things remain are by me; and whatsoever things are not by me shall be shaken
and destroyed. (D&C 132:7, 13-14.)
The Prophet taught that through eternal sealings, worthy individuals receive the power to
endure, expand, and increase forever.
Elijah Restores Sealing Authority
The Prophet taught that authentic priesthood authority was required to perform an eternal
sealing.40 He instructed that freelance ordinances, those performed without genuine priesthood
power, are not recognized by God, no matter how sincere the participants, no matter what
“spiritual feelings” they may claim.
Joseph Smith claimed legitimate sealing priesthood authority came to him from heavenly
beings. On April 3, 1836, he and Oliver Cowdery reported a visitation from several angelic
messengers, last of all was Elijah:
After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah
the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said:
Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi-testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come-To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the
whole earth be smitten with a curse-Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye
may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors. (D&C 110:1116.)
In answer to the question, “Why send Elijah,” the Prophet answered: “because he holds the
Keys of the Authority to administer in all the ordinances of the priesthood and without the
authority is given the ordinances could not be administered in righteousness.”41
The revelation on celestial marriage specifies that Joseph Smith received the sealing
authority and held the keys to bind on earth. It refers to Joseph as “him who is anointed, both as
well for time and for all eternity… mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold
this power… and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days,
and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this
priesthood are conferred” (D&C 132:7). It also states: “I have conferred upon you the keys and
power of the priesthood, wherein I restore all things, and make known unto you all things in due
time. And verily, verily, I say unto you, that whatsoever you seal on earth shall be sealed in
heaven; and whatsoever you bind on earth, in my name and by my word, saith the Lord, it shall
be eternally bound in the heavens” (D&C 132:45-46). Importantly, the revelation twice
emphasizes that God’s house is a house of order (vv. 8, 18), again emphasizing the sealing
authority is tightly controlled.
The Prophet taught that the authority to perform eternal sealings always accompanies a new
dispensation. A dispensation of the gospel occurs when truth and authority are dispensed from
heaven to a prophet on earth, who in turn dispenses that truth and the accompanying priesthood
ordinances to worthy followers:
…in all ages of the world, whenever the Lord has given a dispensation of the priesthood to any
man by actual revelation, or any set of men, this power has always been given. Hence, whatsoever
those men did in authority, in the name of the Lord, and did it truly and faithfully, and kept a proper
and faithful record of the same, it became a law on earth and in heaven, and could not be annulled,
according to the decrees of the great Jehovah. This is a faithful saying. Who can hear it?
And again, for the precedent, Matthew 16:18, 19: And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Now the great and grand secret of the whole matter, and the summum bonum of the whole subject
that is lying before us, consists in obtaining the powers of the Holy Priesthood. For him to whom
these keys are given there is no difficulty in obtaining a knowledge of facts in relation to the
salvation of the children of men, both as well for the dead as for the living. (D&C 128:9-11.)
Joseph Smith taught that Elijah’s authority allows the performance of priesthood sealings
in two directions, the horizontal sealing of a man and woman in eternal marriage (D&C 132:19)
and the vertical sealing of parents to children (D&C 128:18). These eternal sealings constitute
the tip of the theological iceberg doctrinally underlying the practice of plural marriage. We will
discuss these two sealing ordinances separately, beginning with vertical sealing ordinances.
Vertical Sealings of Parents to Children
Joseph Smith instructed that there must be a “welding link of some kind or other between
the fathers and the children” (D&C 128:18). Parents to children sealing ordinances are
accomplished among the living, but are primarily a work performed by proxy on behalf of the
dead. That is, priesthood ordinances are executed by the mortals on earth acting vicariously for
individuals who have died and now exist beyond the veil.42
Proxy ordinance work was a teaching unknown among the Christian churches in Joseph
Smith’s day. He introduced the concept to Church members on August 15, 1840 through
baptism for the dead,43 a doctrine mentioned by Paul: “Else what shall they do which are
baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?” (1
Corinthians 15:29).44
Upon learning that baptisms for the dead could benefit deceased family members, the
excited Saints immediately went to work doing baptisms in the Mississippi River for the
deceased loved ones. In 1891 President Wilford Woodruff recalled those days:
I remember well the first time I read the revelation given through the Prophet Joseph
concerning the redemption of the dead--one of the most glorious principles I had ever become
acquainted with on earth. To think that I and these Latter-day Saints could go forth into the
waters of baptism and redeem our fathers, our mothers, and those that have gone before us, in the
lineage of our father's house, and they come forth and receive a part in the first resurrection!
Well might the Prophet say God has fulfilled His promise that in the last days He would raise up
saviors upon Mount Zion, and the kingdom should be the Lord's. Never did I read a revelation
with greater joy than I did that revelation. I have often referred to the course we pursued in
connection with that. Joseph Smith himself (many of you may recollect the time) went into the
Mississippi river one Sunday night after meeting, and baptized a hundred. I baptized another
hundred. The next man, a few rods from me, baptized another hundred. We were strung up and
down the Mississippi, baptizing for our dead. But there was no recorder; we attended to this
ordinance without waiting to have a proper record made.45
Joseph Smith counseled that deceased individuals living in the Spirit World could accept
those proxy ordinances and vicariously comply, whether it be the ordinance of baptism or of
sealing. On January 21, 1844, he explained that the process required a temple. Wilford
Woodruff recorded his instructions:
The gospel to be esstablished the Saints of God gatherd Zion built up, & the Saints to
Come up as Saviors on mount Zion but how are they to become Saviors on Mount Zion by
building thair temples erecting their Baptismal fonts & going forth & receiving all the ordinances,
Baptisms, Confirmations, washings anointings ordinations & sealing powers upon our heads in
behalf of all our Progenitors who are dead & redeem them that they may Come forth in the first
resurrection & be exhalted to thrones of glory with us, & here in is the chain that binds the hearts
of the fathers to the Children, & the Children to the Fathers which fulfills the mission of Elijah &
I would to God that this temple was now done that we might go into it & go to work & improve
our time & make use of the seals while they are on earth & the Saints have none to much time to
save & redeem their dead, & gather together their living relatives that they may be saved also,
before the earth will be smitten & the Consumption decreed falls upon the world & I would
advise all the Saints to go to with their might & gather together all their living relatives to this
place that they may be sealed & saved that they may be prepared against the day that the
destroying angel goes forth & if the whole Church should go to with all their might to save their
dead seal their posterity & gather their living friends & spend none of their time in behalf of the
world they would hardly get through before night would Come when no man Could work & my
ownly trouble at the present time is concerning ourselves that the Saints will be divided & broken
up & scattered before we get our Salvation Secure for thei[r] is so many fools in the world for the
devil to operate upon it gives him the advantage often times…46
Through vertical sealing ordinances, we become linked with our ancestors in a chain
leading back to Adam. (Sealings between biologically unrelated individuals, called “adoption
sealings,” will be discussed in chapter 333.) The Prophet explained the importance:
For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect.
Neither can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also; for it is
necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, which dispensation is now
beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of
dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days
of Adam even to the present time. And not only this, but those things which never have been
revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall
be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. (D&C
128:18.)
It is my understanding that Joseph did not teach the sealing of parents to children or deceased
husbands to deceased wives in his own time. That was introduced by Wilford Woodruff in the
1890s. Is this correct? The way you describe sealings here it sounds as if Joseph was teaching
sealings that go back through time. All he taught was baptism for the dead as I understand it; that
was the sealing link.
Perhaps 300 generations are involved, comprised of a small portion of mankind, those who
are worthy and have accepted priesthood ordinance work. These sealed individuals are
candidates for exaltation.
The finalized vertical sealings will include billions of individuals worthy of exaltation; each will
have received all required priesthood ordinances, either personally or by proxy.
The Prophet addressed a common question, even then: “The question is frequently asked
Can we not be saved without going through with all thes ordinances &c I would answer No not
the fulness of Salvation.”47 George A. Smith, who was ordained a member of the Quorum of the
Twelve in 1839 and learned of polygamy directly from Joseph Smith, related in 1875:
He [Joseph Smith] stated that the Twelve were then instructed to administer in the
ordinances of the Gospel for the dead, beginning with baptism and the laying on of hands. This
work was at once commenced. It soon became apparent that some had long records of their dead,
for whom they wished to administer. This was seen to be but the beginning of an immense work,
and that to administer all the ordinance of the Gospel to the hosts of the dead was no light task.
The Twelve asked Joseph if there could not be some shorter method of administering for so
many. Joseph in effect replied – “The laws of the Lord are immutable, we must act in perfect
compliance with what is revealed to us. We need not expect to do this vast work for the dead in a
short time. I expect it will take at least a thousand years.”48
No Vertical Sealings Outside of a Temple
On March 10, 1844, the Prophet encouraged the Saints to seek out their dead progenitors:
“the doctrin 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.”49
Despite Joseph Smith’s excitement for binding families together, he was severely limited
in his application of the ordinances sealing parents to children.50 Why? Because vertical proxy
sealings cannot be performed outside of a temple.51 In April 1843, the Prophet taught: “There
are certain ordinances and principles that when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a
place or house built for that purpose.”52 A year later, he lamented: “We need the temple more
than anything else.”53 But wasn’t he referring to baptisms for the dead?
Brigham Young explained in 1870: “Men will have to be sealed to Each other
[vertically] untill we go on to Father Adam. Men will have to be sealed to Men so as to link the
Chain from begining to End & all Children will have to be sealed to their Parents that was born
before they had their Endowments. But this must be in A Temple & No whare Els.”54 Three
years later he elaborated: All right, this sounds like sealings going back through time.
We also have the privilege of sealing women to men [in eternal marriage], without a
temple… but when we come to other sealing ordinances, ordinances pertaining to the holy
Priesthood, to connect the chain of the Priesthood from Father Adam until now, by sealing
children to their parents, being sealed for our forefathers, etc., they cannot be done without a
temple. When the ordinances are carried out in the temples that will be erected, men will be
sealed to their fathers, and those who have slept, clear up to Father Adam. This will have to be
done, because of the chain of the Priesthood being broken upon the earth…
This Priesthood has been restored again, and by its authority we shall be connected with
our fathers, by the ordinance of sealing, until we shall form a perfect chain from Father Adam
down to the closing up scene. This ordinance will not be performed anywhere but in a temple;
neither will children be sealed to their living parents in any other place than a temple.55
Accordingly, no vertical sealings were performed during Joseph Smith’s lifetime.56 He
died without experiencing a sealing ordinance binding him to his own parents or to any of his
own children.57 Are you saying that Joseph taught the doctrine of sealing but did not practice
it because he had no temple?
Since no one on earth was sealed to anyone in the early 1840s, every person needed a
vertical sealing. The Prophet was anxious to fulfill his personal responsibility to participate in
the construction of the genealogical tree whose branches would eventually include the very last
generations of this earth. Despite the absence of a functioning temple in 1842, Joseph’s
optimism flourished:
Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage,
brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth
break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel,
who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their
prison; for the prisoners shall go free.
Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry
lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with
gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for
joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout
for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how
glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and
honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers! (D&C 128:2223.) Are you sure this refers to the sealing work?
Vertical Sealings in the Nauvoo Temple – the Welding Work Begins
The first vertical sealings did not occur until the Nauvoo temple was functioning.
Researcher Lisle Brown wrote: “Available temple records, as well as other primary sources
(such as diaries and letters), neither record nor mention any sealing of children to parents or
adoption of adults to couples during Joseph Smith’s lifetime… the lack of contemporary
documentation indicates that while Joseph may have taught the doctrine and ritual, the actual
practice commenced with the opening of the Nauvoo temple in 1845-46.”58
An examination of the dates when the ordinances (sealings to parents) were performed
shows that the first occurred January 11, 1846, a full month after the temple began functioning.59
During that week, twenty-seven vertical sealing ordinances were performed with one more on
the 22nd.60 An additional 265 were accomplished on or after January 25th. However, no proxy
sealings for deceased children to deceased parents occurred. In all, less than three hundred such
sealing ordinances were performed prior to closing the temple. 61 Stated another way, less than
three hundred vertical links had been welded into the chain and none spanned more than two
generations.
For eight weeks in the winter of 1845-46, fulfillment of the prophecy that there would be
the “welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and
be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time” (D&C 128:18) was first realized.
Additional vertical sealings would have to wait the building of newer temples in the West. Eight
years after their arrival in Salt Lake City, the Saints dedicated the Endowment House on May,
1855, but no parents to children sealing ordinances were performed there.62 Professor Richard E.
Bennett wrote: “The Endowment House like its predecessor the Council House [in Salt Lake
City], provided a place for baptisms and confirmations for the living and the dead, endowments
for the living (including washings and anointings), and marriage sealings for both the living and
the dead [the dead sealed to living spouses].”63 On January 11, 1877, the first sealings in this
dispensation of deceased women to deceased men took place in the St. George temple.64 Okay.
This is how I understand it. Vertical sealings in past times were delayed until later. Are you
assuming Joseph taught the doctrine? If so, why was it not practiced?
Vicarious Ordinance Work – a Focus of the Millennium
Echoing Joseph Smith’s belief that this proxy ordinance work for the dead would “take at
least a thousand years,”65 Brigham Young indicated that it would be a primary effort of the
millennium:
As I have frequently told you, that is the work of the Millennium. It is the work that has
to be performed by the seed of Abraham, the chosen seed, the royal seed, the blessed of the Lord,
those the Lord made covenants with. They will step forth, and save every son and daughter of
Adam who will receive salvation here on the earth; and all spirits in the spirit world will be
preached to, conversed with, and the principles of salvation carried to them, that they may have
the privilege of receiving the Gospel; and they will have plenty of children here on the earth to
officiate for them in those ordinances of the Gospel that pertain to the flesh.66 This does not
specifically mention sealing, and considering the controversy I don’t think we can assume BY
had sealings in mind.
Joseph Smith observed: “Angels come down combined together to gather their children,
& gather them. We cannot be made perfect without them, nor they without us when these things
are done the Son of man will descend, the ancient of Days sit.”67 Apostle Wilford Woodruff,
who was personally taught the Joseph Smith, summarized the responsibility in 1868:
In regard to the redemption of the dead I believe it will take all the ordinances of the
gospel of Christ to save [one] soul as much as another… Therefore those who have died without
the gospel will have to receive the gospel in the spirit world from those who preach to the spirits
in prison, and those who dwell in the flesh will have to attend to all the ordinances of the gospel
for and in their behalf by proxy and it will take 1,000 years with Jesus Christ at the head of all the
Prophets and Apostles before the work will be finished attending to all the ordinances for all the
dead who have died without the gospel.68
Candidates for exaltation are sealed horizontally and vertically
Summary
Joseph Smith taught that without proper authority, covenants and agreements made
during mortality will end at death. He disclosed that he received priesthood sealing keys from
Elijah April 3, 1836, keys that permit horizontal marriage sealings of a husband to a wife and
vertical sealings binding parents to their children. [I don’t recall a passage where Joseph Smith
included vertical sealings of deceased parents to children among the keys of Elijah. If one is
there, it must be stressed. Through such sealings, a family chain back to Adam and forward to
the last generations of the earth can be created. Sealing of parents to children can occur to living
individuals, but will be primarily accomplished vicariously for the dead. A primary work of the
millennium will be to complete this ordinance work.
The regulation of sealing ordinances is extremely strict. Vertical parent to children
sealings must be done in a temple setting, apparently with no exceptions. Joseph Smith
experienced no vertical sealings during his lifetime; the first were performed in the Nauvoo
Temple in January, 1846. But only two generations.
Chapter Six
Joseph Smith’s Teachings on Husband to Wife Sealings
According to Joseph Smith’s teachings, the authority given to him by the angel Elijah
also empowered him to seal horizontally, that is, to seal a man and a woman in eternal marriage:
On July 16, 1843 from the temple stand in Nauvoo, the Prophet preached to the gathering
crowds: “He [Joseph Smith] showed that a man must enter into an everlasting covenant with his
wife in this world or he will have no claim on her in the next.”69 Two months earlier he was
reported as saying: “We have no claim in our eternal comfort in relation to eternal things unless
our actions and contracts and all things tend to this end.” 70
1830s - Joseph Smith First Teaches of Eternal Marriage
Precisely when Joseph Smith first taught that marriage could endure beyond death is
unknown. As reviewed in Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: History, hints were made as early as 1835.
In May, W.W. Phelps introduced a “new idea” to his wife in a letter: “A new idea, sally, If you
and I continue faithful to the end, we are certain of being one in the Lord throughout eternity.
This is one of the most glorious consolations we can have in the flesh. Do not forfeit your birth
right.”71 Phelps likely learned these new ideas from Prophet. The following month Phelps
wrote in the Church’s Latter Day Saints Messenger and Advocate:
New light is occasionally bursting in to our minds, of the sacred scriptures, for which I
am truly thankful. We shall by and by learn that we were with God in another world, before the
foundation of the world, and had our agency: that we came into this world and have our agency,
in order that we may prepare ourselves for a kingdom of glory; become archangels, even the sons
of God where the man is neither without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord:
A consummation of glory, and happiness, and perfection so greatly to be wished, that I would not
miss of it for the fame of ten worlds.72
Parley P. Pratt had private interviews in 1840 with Joseph Smith and later recorded:
In Philadelphia I had the happiness of once more meeting with President Smith, and of
spending several days with him and others, and with the Saints in that city and vicinity.
During these interviews he taught me many great and glorious principles concerning God
and the heavenly order of eternity. It was at this time that I received from him the first idea of
eternal family organization, and the eternal union of the sexes in those expressibly endearing
relationships which none but the highly intellectual, the refined and pure in heart, know how to
prize, and which are at the very foundation of everything worthy to be called happiness.
Till then I had learned to esteem kindred affections and sympathies as pertaining solely to
this transitory state, as something from which the heart must be entirely weaned, in order to be
fitted for its heavenly state.
It was Joseph Smith who taught me how to prize the endearing relationships of father and
mother, husband and wife; of brother and sister, son and daughter. It was from him that I learned
that the wife of my bosom might be secured to me for time and all eternity; and that the refined
sympathies and affections which endeared us to each other emanated from the fountain of divine
eternal love…
I had loved before, but I knew not why. But now I loved--with a pureness--an intensity of
elevated, exalted feeling, which would lift my soul from the transitory things of this groveling
sphere and expand it as the ocean. I felt that God was my Heavenly Father indeed; that Jesus was
my brother, and that the wife of my bosom was an immortal, eternal companion...73
It appears Joseph Smith’s private ideology expanded much more quickly than his public
teachings reflected.
The New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage
After establishing himself and the Church in Nauvoo, Joseph smith carefully introduced
an official teaching of eternal matrimony calling it the “new and everlasting covenant” of
marriage (D&C 132:19). The covenant was new in this dispensation, being unknown and
untaught by all other religions. It was everlasting because it requires continued obedience of the
man and woman, while binding them in eternal marriage.
The revelation on celestial marriage affirms that once revealed to a people, this covenant
must be obeyed. That is, once the sealing ordinance is introduced among God’s followers, they
must marry according to that covenant or incur divine condemnation:
For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that
covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into
my glory.74
For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for
that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the
world.
And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of
my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he shall be
damned, saith the Lord God. (D&C 132:4-6.)
As with other ordinances, such as baptism, there are no second chances. A person cannot
reject baptism or the new and everlasting covenant and thereafter expect additional opportunities
to accept them without penalties. Nothing in this covenant, as described by Joseph Smith, would
endorse or encourage procrastinating personal obedience to its precepts.
On April 8, 1844 at a conference in Nauvoo, Hyrum Smith explained the basic principles
of this covenant:
The idea of marrying for eternity is the seal of the covenant, and is easily understood…
No marriage is valid in the morn of the resurrection unless the marriage covenant be
sealed on earth by one having the keys and power from the Almighty God to seal on earth, and it
shall be bound in heaven. Such a sealing will have full effect in the morn of the resurrection…
The Lord has given Joseph the power to seal on earth and in heaven [for] those who are
found worthy; having the Spirit of Elijah and Elias, he has power to seal with a seal that shall
never be broken, and it shall be in force in the morn of the resurrection.75
President John Taylor outlined in 1877 the importance of joining a man and woman
together in eternal matrimony: “It takes a woman and a man to make a man. Did you ever think
about that, that without a union of the sexes we are not perfect? God has so ordained it. And
therefore do we expect to have our wives in the future state? Yes. And do wives expect to have
their husbands? Yes.”76 Apostle George A. Smith also explained that “without the law of
sealing, no man could be exalted to a throne in the celestial kingdom, that is, without he had a
woman by his side; and that no woman could be exalted in the celestial world, without she was
exalted with a man at her head; that the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without
the man in the Lord...”77
Elder George Q. Cannon, who did not know Joseph Smith personally, but was an apostle
who served as a counselor to Brigham Young and John Taylor, summarized in 1871:
We believe in the eternal nature of the marriage relation, that man and woman are
destined, as husband and wife, to dwell together eternally. We believe that we are organized as
we are, with all these affections, with all this love for each other, for a definite purpose,
something far more lasting than to be extinguished when death shall overtake us. We believe that
when a man and woman are united as husband and wife, and they love each other, their hearts and
feelings are one, that that love is as enduring as eternity itself, and that when death overtakes
them it will neither extinguish nor cool that love, but that it will brighten and kindle it to a purer
flame, and that it will endure through eternity;
God has restored the everlasting priesthood, by which ties can be formed, consecrated
and consummated, which shall be as enduring as we ourselves are enduring, that is, as our
spiritual nature; and husbands and wives will be united together, and they and their children will
dwell and associate together eternally, and this, as I have said, will constitute one of the chief joys
of heaven; and we look forward to it with delightful anticipations.78
The new and everlasting covenant of marriage may also be performed vicariously. Such
horizontal marriage sealings ordinances join deceased couples now awaiting the resurrection in
the Spirit World. The Prophet described their situation there: “ye have looked upon the long
absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage” (D&C 45:17). On April 8, 1844,
Hyrum Smith also explained vicarious horizontal marriage sealings:
I married me a wife, and I am the only one who had any right to her. We had five
children, the covenant was made for our lives. She fell into the grave before God showed us his
order. God has shown me that the covenant is dead, and had no force, neither could I have her in
the resurrection, but we should be as the angels--it troubled me. President Joseph said you can
have her sealed to you upon the same principles as you can be baptized for the dead. I enquired
what can I do for any second wife? You can also make a covenant with her for eternity and have
her sealed to you by the authority of the priesthood.
I named the subject to my present wife, and she said, “I will act as proxy for your wife
that is dead, and I will be sealed to you for eternity myself for I never had any other husband. I
love you and I do not want to be separate from you nor be forever alone in the world to come”…
What honest man or woman can find fault with such a doctrine as this? None. It is a doctrine not
to be preached to the world; but to the Saints who have obeyed the gospel and gathered to Zion.
It is glad tiding of great joy.79 Good evidence that sealing of dead people to live husbands was
possible.
Eternal Kings and Queens - Deification
Joseph Smith taught that the benefits of eternal marriage are encompassed in the term
“exaltation” (D&C 132:19). A portion of these blessings, include becoming Kings and Queens.
He explained: “I will advance from prophet to priest & then to King not to the kingdoms of this
earth but of the most high god.”80 Joseph was echoing the apostle John:
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and
the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his
own blood,
And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and
dominion for ever and ever. (Revelation 1:5-6)
…for thou [Jesus Christ] wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
(Revelation 5:9-10.)
On December 26, 1845, Brigham Young explained that these blessings required the
ordinances of the temple: “Those who have come in here [into the Nauvoo Temple] and have
received their washing and anointing will be ordained Kings and Priests, and will then have
received the fullness of the Priesthood, all that can be given on earth, for Brother Joseph said he
had given us all that could be given to man on the earth.”81
Exalted women become celestial queens and priestesses. Apostle Parley P. Pratt
explained that she stands “as a queen and priestess” and she will “reign for ever and ever.”82
Lorenzo Snow explained that such women are “queens… to rule in righteousness through the
countless ages of eternities.”83 Elder John Taylor described a an exalted woman:
For whilst in heaven’s progressive
Science skill’d, thou sord’st from world to world, clad
In the robes of bright seraphic light; and
With thy God, eternal -- onward guest, a
Priestess and a queen -- reigning and ruling in
The realms of light.84
Joseph Smith taught that through the process of becoming Kings and Queens, worthy
couples become equal with God. They receive “all that [the] Father hath” (D&C 84:38), even to
be “equal in power, and in might, and in dominion” with Him (D&C 76:95). “The saints shall be
filled with his glory, and receive their inheritance and be made equal with him” (D&C 88:107).
The Apostle John taught similarly: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will
be his God, and he shall be my son” (Rev. 21:7). John also instructed: “To him that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my
Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21, see also Moses 7:59).
By becoming equal with God, Joseph Smith instructed we too can become gods. On
April 7, 1844 at the funeral of Church member King Follett, the Prophet taught: “You have got
to learn how to be a god yourself in order to save yourself—to be priests & kings as all Gods has
done—by going from a small degree to another—from exaltation to ex[altation]—till they are
able to sit in glory as with those who sit enthroned.”85 The process is called “deification” and
had been part of Joseph Smith’s teachings since February 16, 1832. Concerning the inhabitants
of the Celestial Kingdom, Joseph dictated a revelation stating:
Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God-Wherefore, all things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to
come, all are theirs and they are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
And they shall overcome all things. (D&C 76:58-60.)
Orson Pratt wrote of the joyful relationships experienced by exalted couples:
These Gods, being redeemed from the grave with their wives, are immortal and eternal,
and will die no more. But they and their wives will be supremely happy. All the endearing ties of
conjugal love which existed in their bosoms, when [they existed as] terrestrial and Fallen beings,
are now greatly increased and perfected which serve to swell their souls with feelings of
rapturous delight, and unbounded love towards each other, and with joys that are everlasting.
How beautiful--how interesting--how inexpressibly lovely will they appear in each others eyes!
Full of virtue and goodness, knowledge and intelligence, affection and love they shine forth in all
the brilliancy and glory of these Godlike attributes, inspiring each other, and all Heaven, with a
fulness of Eternal joys.86
“A Continuation of the Seeds”
According to Joseph Smith’s teachings, the greatest blessing granted exalted god-couples
transcends even living together in royal bliss, sharing cosmic power with God the Father. On
May 16, 1843, he taught a small group of Latter-day Saints gathered in Ramus, Illinois. William
Clayton recorded:
He [Joseph Smith] said that except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant
and be married for eternity while in this probation by the power and authority of the Holy
priesthood they will cease to increase when they die (i.e. they will not have any children in the
resurrection), but those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life
and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost will continue to increase and
have children in the celestial glory. The unpardonable sin is to shed innocent blood or be
accessory thereto.
According to the revelation on celestial marriage, when “a man marry a wife” by proper
authority and they live worthily, they receive:
…their exaltation and glory in all things… which glory shall be a fulness and a
continuation of the seeds forever and ever.
Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from
everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things
are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are
subject unto them… (D&C 132:19-20; italics added.)
For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation
of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye
know me.
But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your
exaltation; that where I am ye shall be also.
This is eternal lives--to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath
sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law. (D&C 132:22-24; italics added.)
As touching Abraham and his seed, out of the world they should continue; both in the
world and out of the world should they continue as innumerable as the stars; or, if ye were to
count the sand upon the seashore ye could not number them. This promise is yours also, because
ye are of Abraham, and the promise was made unto Abraham; and by this law is the continuation
of the works of my Father, wherein he glorifieth himself (D&C 132:30-31; italics added).87
These teachings state that worthy couples, sealed by proper authority, not only enjoy
eternal marriage, but their exaltation also includes “a continuation of seeds” (D&C 132:19),
“eternal lives” (D&C 132:24, 55), and “eternal increase.”88 The Prophet further instructed: “the
power of the Melchisek P'd [priesthood] was to have the power of an ‘endless lives.’”89 These
promises to exalted couples declare they will somehow bear spirit children in eternity. It appears
that Joseph Smith did not provide any additional details regarding the process, but taught it is an
integral part of exaltation. He also observed: “It will take a long time after the grave to
understand the whole.”90
Orson Pratt wrote:
The Celestial male and female, after the resurrection, will be perfected in knowledge, and
in holiness, and in pure affection and love: they will know as God knows; be pure as He is pure,
and love as He loves: their knowledge, their purity, and their affections, before their celestial
glorification, will increase alike, and keep pace with each other, until they are perfected, when
they will enjoy in fulness every attribute and affection which God himself enjoys, and will be like
Him in all these things. Then, and not till then, will they be permitted to propagate that higher
order of beings called spirits. As the character of parents in this life is impressed, in a great
measure, upon their children, so likewise the character of the celestial parents will be
incorporated in the very being of their spirit offspring.91
Brigham Young explained: “Every man who is faithful and gets a salvation and glory,
and becomes a king of kings and Lord of Lords, or a father of fathers, it will be by the increase
of his own progeny.”92 He also taught:
The eternal union of the sexes, in and after the resurrection, is mainly for the purpose of
renewing and continuing the work of procreation. In our present or rudimental state, our offspring
are in our own image, and partake of our natures, in which are the seeds of death. In like manner,
will the offspring of immortal and celestial beings, be in the likeness and partake of the nature of
their divine parentage. Hence, such offspring will be pure, holy, incorruptible and eternal.93
Joseph Smith’s revelations consistently spoke in the masculine gender, seldom
mentioning women. However, those revelations also quote God saying, “what I say unto one I
say unto all” (D&C 61:18, 36, 82:5, 92:1, 93:49). Apostle Parley P. Pratt explained that an
exalted woman stands “as a queen and priestess” and she will reign “as the queen mother of her
numerous and still increasing offspring.”94
New Worlds are Created to Accommodate Spirit Offspring
Joseph Smith taught: “The earthly is the image of the Heavenly shows that is by the
multiplication of Lives that the eternal worlds are created and occupied.”95 “This Earth was Not
the first of Gods work.”96 After an exalted couple’s spirit offspring have multiplied, they will be
permitted to create their own earth-dominions for their spirit offspring. Brigham Young
instructed: “After men have got their exaltations and their crowns--have become Gods, even the
sons of God--are made Kings of kings and Lords of lords, they have the power then of
propagating their species in spirit; and that is the first of their operations with regard to
organizing a world.”97
Parley P. Pratt explained: “In order to multiply organized bodies, composed of spiritual
element, worlds and mansions composed of spiritual element would be necessary as a home,
adapted to their existence and enjoyment. As these spiritual bodies increased in numbers, other
spiritual worlds would be necessary, on which to transplant them.”98 He also hoped that we
“may be called upon with the other sons of God to shout for joy, at the organization of new
systems of worlds, and new orders of being; over which we may reign as kings.”99 Orson Pratt
instructed:
As soon as each God has begotten many millions of male and female spirits, and his
Heavenly inheritance becomes too small, to comfortably accommodate his great family, he, in
connection with his sons, organizes a new world, after a similar order to the one which we now
inhabit, where he sends both the male and female spirits to inhabit tabernacles of flesh and bones.
Thus each God forms a world for the accommodation of his own sons and daughters who are sent
forth in their times and seasons, and generations to be born into the same. The inhabitants of each
world are required to reverence, adore, and worship their own personal father who dwells in the
Heaven which they formerly inhabited.100
If the [mortal] children [of God] have been married for eternity, as well as for time, by
the authority of God, the same as their first Parents were, they will, with them, raise up, after the
resurrection, an endless posterity of immortal beings. In this manner, the children, as well as the
parents, are placed in a redeemed condition, wherein they can eternally obey the command to
multiply…
To those who keep the law through the eternal covenant of marriage, shall honor, and
glory, and dominion, and eternal lives, be added to endless ages in worlds without end. By such
shall worlds be peopled with their own sons and daughters; and their eternal kingdoms shall be
multiplied as the stars of Heaven which no man can number. By such shall God be glorified, in
the continuation of His works, in the extension of the Universe, in the redemption and
glorification of worlds, and in the increase of intelligent, immortal, Godlike beings who inherit all
the fulness of His own great perfections.101
[Without objecting to your argument, I will make one comment on the structure of Mormon
document. You are proceeding as if it is all of a harmonious consistency. What Orson or Parley
or Brigham say represents what Mormon doctrine is. Another school of historians thinks of
individual statements of doctrine as having an individual quality to them. Any given writer may
not speak for the entire church. There would be Mormons who would demure or state the matter
differently. Orson Pratt in this later conception of doctrine would represent the thought of one
active mind striving to bring consistency to the legacy of Joseph Smith. There would be other
variants and expressions, not all of them consistent with Orson. The same trunk could produce
many branches.]
“Born in the Covenant”
The ordinance of eternal sealing affects the spiritual relationship between mortal children
and their parents. The children born to parents after they have been sealed in the new and
everlasting covenant are automatically linked to them (vertically) and are said to be “born in the
covenant.” No ordinances are required to bind those children to their parents. Brigham Young
explained:
For instance, a man and his wife come into the Church, and they have a family of
children. These children have been begotten out of the covenant, because the marriage of their
parents is not recognized by the Lord as performed by his authority; they have, therefore, to be
sealed to their parents, or else they cannot claim them in eternity... the chain would not be
complete without this sealing ordinance being performed.102
Parents, after receiving their endowments and being sealed for time and eternity, and they
have other children; they are begotten and born under the covenant, and they are the rightful heirs
to the kingdom, they possess the keys of the kingdom. Children born unto parents, before the
latter enter into the fulness of the covenants [being sealed], have to be sealed to them in a temple
to become legal heirs of the Priesthood. It is true they can receive the ordinances, they can receive
their endowments, and be blessed in common with their parents; but still the parents cannot claim
them legally and lawfully in eternity unless they are sealed to them. Yet the chain would not be
complete without this sealing ordinance being performed.103
In 1874 he further taught: “Who it is that can not see the beauty and the excellency of
celestial marriage, and having our children sealed to us? What should we do without this? Were
it not for what is revealed concerning the sealing ordinances, children born out of the covenant
would not be sealed to their parents.”104
The first child “born in the covenant” in this dispensation appears to have been born to
Bishop Newell K. and Elizabeth Ann Whitney, who were sealed August 21, 1842. On January
17, 1844, Mary Jane Whitney was born. Elizabeth then wrote: “The first child born heir to the
Holy Priesthood and in the New and Everlasting Covenant in this dispensation.”105 The first
baby born from a sealed plural marriage was George Omner Noble, born February 2, 1844.106
Summary
Joseph Smith first taught of eternal marriage in the mid-1830s. However, no details
would be divulged until the following decade. In his ideology, sealing authority was needed to
effectuate the new and everlasting covenant of marriage binding a man and a woman
(horizontally) in eternal matrimony. The Prophet instructed that the blessings of the new and
everlasting covenant include becoming a King and Queen in eternity and even rising to godhood
itself. According to Joseph’s teachings, the crowning blessing of these crowned immortal beings
is the “continuation of the seeds” or the ability, as resurrected beings, to bear spirit children in
eternity, forever.
Chapter Seven
Joseph Smith’s Teachings on the Premortal Family
In addition to eternal sealings, another new doctrine taught by Joseph Smith involves the
premortal existence of humankind, the belief that we existed as spirit beings in a primordial
realm before we came to earth. Although it may not appear obvious, the teachings of
premortality are also an important part of the theology supporting the practice of plural marriage.
Premortal Existence – Another New Doctrine
On many occasions, Joseph Smith taught of the premortal existence. “Man was… in the
beginning with God…. For man is spirit… Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning…
(D&C 93:29, 33, 38). Premortal spirits in Joseph Smith’s teachings have identity, agency, and
distinct tabernacles composed of purer matter than mortals. The Prophet explained: “There is no
such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be
discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is
all matter” (D&C 131:7-8).
The Book of Moses states: “I, the Lord God, created all things… spiritually before they
were naturally upon the face of the earth… all things were before created; but spiritually were
they created and made according to my word” (Moses 3:7). Joseph taught that each of us was
part of “the measure of man, according to his creation before the world was made” (D&C 49:17).
One revelation states: “Thus saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, the Great I AM, Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end, the same which looked upon the wide expanse of
eternity, and all the seraphic hosts of heaven, before the world was made,” (D&C 38:1).
The Book of Mormon refers to the “first place” – a time prior to mortality. Concerning
those ordained as priesthood leaders, Alma relates:
And this is the manner after which they were ordained--being called and prepared from
the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding
faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having
chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that
holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such…
Or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this
holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their
hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared: (Alma
13:3, 5).
Joseph Smith openly taught of premortal councils: “Spirits are eternal. At the first
organization in heaven we were all present and saw the Savior chosen and appointed, and the
plan of salvation made and we sanctioned it. We came to this earth that we might have a body
and present it pure before God in the Celestial Kingdom.”107 “Every man who has a calling to
mininster to the Inhabitants of the world, was ordained to that very purpose in the grand Council
of Heaven before this world was —I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that grand
Council.”108 On January 19, 1841, a listener recorded: “Joseph said that before foundation of
the Earth in the Grand Counsel that the Spirits of all Men ware subject to opression & the
express purpose of God in Giveing it a tabernicle was to arm it against the power of
Darkness.”109
The Prophet instructed that prior to coming to earth, we were organized according to
Heavenly Father’s guidance: “The Father called all spirits before him at the creation of Man &
organized them.”110 “The organization of the spiritual and heavenly worlds, and of spiritual and
heavenly beings, was agreeably to the most perfect order and harmony—that their limits and
bounds were fixed irrevocably, and voluntarily subscribed to by themselves.”111
In contrast to Joseph Smith’s declarations outlining the premortal existence, Christian
denominationalists then and now generally believe everything is and was created ex nihilo (“out
of nothing”) by God. In their dogmas, men and women are created from nothing at mortal birth.
Heavenly Parents and Spirit Children
Joseph Smith explained how we came into existence in the premortal world. Paul
referred to us as “the offspring of God” (Acts 17:29) and to “the Father of Spirits” (Hebrews
12:9). Similarly, the Prophet taught that we were created literally as spirit sons and daughters of
Heavenly Father: “[The] first princ[iple]: of truth to know for a certainty the char[acter]. of God
that we may conv[erse] with him same as a man & God himself the father of us all dwelt on a
Earth same as J[esu]s. himself did.”112 “The great parent of the universe looks upon the whole of
the human family with a fatherly care, and paternal regard; he views them as his offspring.”113
As reviewed above, the revelation on celestial marriage teaches of future blessings
promised to the righteous: “If a man marry a wife” by proper authority and they live worthily,
they would received “exaltation” becoming “gods” including a “continuation of the seeds forever
and ever” (D&C 132:19-20).
However, these same verses appear to also describe our past as well. That is, in some
previous realm, a mortal man and his wife were sealed, and by complying with all the
requirements, became “gods.” Through the ages and eons, they became “Gods” to us, as we
individually and collectively represent “a continuation of the seeds” for them, our Heavenly
Father and Heavenly Mother. In Joseph Smith’s theology, our past and potential future are based
on eternal sealings.
A late secondhand recollection tells of the Prophet’s assurance that we have a Mother in
Heaven. In 1911, Susa Young Gates wrote of a conversation she had with Zina Huntington, one
of Joseph Smith’s plural wives:
It was told by Aunt Zina D. [Huntington] Young to the writer as to many other during her
life. Father Huntington lost his wife under the most trying circumstances. Her children were left
desolate. One day, when her daughter Zina was speaking with the Prophet Joseph Smith
concerning the loss of her mother and her intense grief, she asked the question:
“Will I know my mother as my mother when I get over on the Other Side?”
“Certainly you will,” was the instant reply of the Prophet. “More than that, you will meet
and become acquainted with your eternal Mother, the wife of your Father in Heaven.”
“And have I then a Mother in Heaven?” exclaimed the astonished girl.
“You assuredly have. How could a Father claim His title unless there were also a Mother
to share that parenthood?”114
Eliza R. Snow, who conversed with Joseph Smithy many times as one of his plural wives,
wrote lyrics to the hymn, “O My Father,” in 1845, which also refers to a Heavenly Mother.
I had learned to call thee Father, Through thy Spirit from on high,
But until the key of knowledge Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heavens are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason, truth eternal Tells me I've a mother there.115
John Taylor penned a letter to a female Church member, which was published in the
Church’s newspaper, The Mormon, in 1857. He wrote: “Knowest thou not that eternities ago thy
spirit, pure and holy, dwelt in thy Heavenly Father’s bosom, and in His presence, and with thy mother,
one of the queens of heaven, surrounded by thy brother and sister spirits in the spirit world, among the
Gods?”116
Other Church leaders taught more specifically concerning our divine Heavenly
Parentage. Brigham Young instructed:
Our Father in Heaven begat all the spirits that ever were, or ever will be, upon this earth;
and they were born spirits in the eternal world.117
I want to tell you, each and every one of you, that you are well acquainted with God our
Heavenly Father, or the great Elohim. You are all well acquainted with him, for there is not a soul
of you but what has lived in his house and dwelt with him year after year.118
There is no spirit but what was pure and holy when it came here from the celestial world.
There is no spirit among the human family that was begotten in hell; none that were begotten by
angels, or by any inferior being. They were not produced by any being less than our Father in
heaven. He is the Father of our spirits; and if we could know, understand, and do His will, every
soul would be prepared to return back into His presence. And when they get there, they would
see that they had formerly lived there for ages, that they had previously been acquainted with
every nook and corner, with the palaces, walks, and gardens; and they would embrace their
Father, and He would embrace them and say, "My son, my daughter, I have you again;" and the
child would say, "O my Father, my Father, I am here again."119
[Do you know the article by Charles Harrell, “The Development of the Doctrine of
Pre-Existence, 1830-1844,” BYU Studies 28(2) (1988): 75-96 which argues Joseph
never taught spirit birth but his successors did almost immediately after he died?]
Apostle Parley P. Pratt similarly instructed:
Man, as we have said, is the offspring of Deity. The entire mystery of the past and future,
with regard to his existence, is not yet solved by mortals.
We first recognise him, as an organized individual or intelligence, dwelling with his
Father in the eternal mansions. This organized spirit we call a body, because, although composed
of the spiritual elements, it possesses every organ after the pattern, and in the likeness or
similitude of the outward or fleshly tabernacle it is destined eventually to inhabit. Its organs of
thought, speech, sight, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling,&c., all exist in their order, as in the
physical body; the one being the exact similitude of the other.
This individual, spiritual body, was begotten by the heavenly Father, in His own likeness
and image…120
It [each spirit] was born and matured in the heavenly mansions, trained in the school of
love in the family circle, and amid the most tender embraces of parental and fraternal affection.
In this primeval probation, in its heavenly home, it lived and moved as a free and rational
intelligence independent in its own sphere. It was placed under certain laws, and was responsible
to its great Patriarchal Head.
This had been called a "First Estate."121
He also penned this verse to his wife in 1846:
Ye kindred spirits from world's celestial!
Offsprings of Diety;--Sons and daughters
Of Eternity;--Ye nobles of heaven
Whose dwellings were of old among the Gods
In everlasting mansions, and who stood
In the councils of the High and lofty122
I take it you don’t wish to comment on the incongruity of billions of spirit children all
inhabiting the royal palace and being familiar with all its nooks and crannies—or the huge time
span required to birth all these children—or the nature of intelligence before it was incorporated
into a spiritual body?
Apostles Wilford Woodruff and Orson Pratt speculated that upwards to 300,000,000
spirits were destined for this earth.123 Whether they heard this number from Joseph Smith or
surmised it themselves, it illustrates that the number is enormous, but finite. Apparently the
billions of spirits sent to this world are only a part of the spiritual offspring of our Heavenly
Parents. Apostle Parley P. Pratt observed that there are “other branches of Christ's kingdom, and
of the celestial family [that exist] in other planets and worlds, many of which are older and much
larger than our earth, but peopled by branches of the celestial family, who are of the same
kindred and race that we are, viz., the sons and daughters of God.”124
Apostle Orson Pratt explained:
We, who compose this congregation, are all one family, and only a very small portion of
the family of our Father and God. But when did he beget us? I answer before this world was
made; not our flesh and bones, but that being called man that was created in the image and
likeness of God and who dwells in his mortal tabernacle. That being is the offspring of God; we
were all begotten by him before this world was made. We then dwelt in his presence and could
behold his face as sons and fathers here on earth can behold each other. We then partook, in a
measure, of his glory, and were acquainted with the glory and power of his kingdom. 125
God’s Course is One Eternal Round
Assembling the pieces of Joseph Smith’s theology reveals a course for spirit children to
advance to become like their exalted Parents, bound together by sealing authority. The ability of
the children to grow to become like their adult parents is a natural progression in mortality that
appears to be a pattern for eternity as well. The Prophet taught: “What was the design of the
Almighty in making man, it was to exalt him to be as God.”126 John Taylor explained that it also
exists in eternity: “Man is a dual being, possessed of body and spirit, made in the image of God,
and connected with Him and with eternity. He is a God in embryo and will live and progress
throughout the eternal ages, if obedient to the laws of the Godhead, as the Gods progress
throughout the eternal ages.”127
Viewing the elements of the Prophet’s ideology reveals a circle of eternal progression,
cycling with each new generation of spirit offspring advancing to exaltation. Joseph dictated:
“For God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left,
neither doth he vary from that which he hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course
is one eternal round.” The teaching that God’s “course is one eternal round” is not found in the
Bible; nor is it generally believed among Christian denominationalists. It is, however, found in
Joseph Smith’s teachings, in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 10:19, Alma 7:20, 37:12) and the
Doctrine and Covenants (D&C 3:2, 35:1).
The path of progression for a generation of spirit children courses through mortal birth,
probation, death, and resurrection. Exaltation requires obedience and sealing ordinances.
In his King Follet discourse, Joseph Smith taught of this progression:
I go back to the beginning to show what kind of a being God was, I will tell you & hear it O
Earth! God who sits in yonder heavens is a man like yourselves That God if you were to see him
to day that holds the worlds you would see him like a man in form, like yourselves. Adam was
made in his image and talked with him & walkd with him… you have got to learn how to make
yourselves God, king and priest, by going from a small capacity to a great capacity to the
resurrection of the dead to dwelling in everlasting burnings.128
In the same discourse, Joseph Smith explained that as mortals progress to exaltation,
Heavenly Father is glorified:
I want you to know the first principle of this law, how consoling to the mourner when
they part with a friend to know that though they lay down this dody [body]. it will rise & dwell
with everlasting burnings to be an heir of God & joint heir of with Jesus Christ enjoying the same
rise exhaltation & glory untill you arive at the station of a God. What did Jesus Christ do, the
same thing as I se the Father do, see the father do what, work out a kingdom, when I do so to I
will give to the father which will add to his glory, he will take a Higher exhaltation & I will take
his place and am also exhalted.129
In 1847, Apostle Orson Hyde charted the expansion of God’s dominions and glory
through the addition of exalted couples within each new generation, publishing it in the Church’s
periodical, the Millennial Star:
A DIAGRAM OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
And Elder Hyde explained:
The above diagram shows the order and unity of the kingdom of God. The eternal Father
sits at the head, crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. Wherever the other lines meet, there
sits a king and a priest unto God, bearing rule, authority, and dominion under the Father. He is
one with the Father, because his kingdom is joined to his Father's and becomes part of it…
The chosen vessels unto God are the kings and priests that are placed at the head of these
kingdoms. These have received their washings and anointings in the temple of God on this earth;
they have been chosen, ordained, and anointed kings and priests, to reign as such in the
resurrection of the just…
While this portion of eternity that we now live in, called time, continues, and while the
other portions of eternity that we may hereafter dwell in, continue, those lines in the foregoing
diagram, representing kingdoms, will continue to extend and be lengthened out; and thus, the
increase of our kingdoms will increase the kingdom of our God… All these kingdoms are one
kingdom, and there is a King over kings, and a Lord over lords. There are Lords many, and Gods
many, for they are called Gods to whom the word of God comes, and the word of God comes to
all these kings and priests. But to our branch of the kingdom there is but one God, to whom we all
owe the most perfect submission and loyalty; yet our God is just as subject to still higher
intelligences, as we should be to him.
…These kingdoms, which are one kingdom, are designed to extend till they not only
embrace this world, but every other planet that rolls in the blue vault of heaven. Thus will all
things be gathered in one during the dispensation of the fulness of times, and the Saints will not
only possess the earth, but all things else.130
In Orson Hyde’s diagram, each intersecting line represents one revolution of God’s
eternal round, one eternal generation of God’s exalted offspring. There an exalted king and
queen bring forth their own generation of spirit offspring, who, themselves may advance to their
own exaltations, worlds without end. Orson Pratt further explained that this process:
The Father of our spirits has only been doing that which His Progenitors did before Him.
Each succeeding generation of Gods follow the example of the preceding ones: each generation
have their wives, who raise up from the fruit of their loins immortal spirits: when their families
become numerous, they organize new worlds for them, after the former patterns set before them;
they place their families upon the same… Thus will worlds and systems of worlds, and gorgeous
universes, be multiplied in endless succession through the infinite depths of boundless space;
some telestial, some terrestrial, and some Celestial, differing in their glory, as the apparent
splendor of the shining luminaries of Heaven differ. All these will swarm with an infinite number
of living, moving, animated beings from the minutest animalcules that sport by millions in a
single drop of water, up through every grade of existence to those Almighty, All wise, and Most
Glorious Personages who exist in countless numbers, governing and controlling all things.131
[Who or what produces the spirit bodies of animals?]
Summary
One of Joseph Smith’s most unique teachings explicates that we existed as spirits prior to
mortal birth. This doctrine may be found in his private and public discussions, as well as
dictated revelations published in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of
Great Price.
Equally novel is the Prophet’s explanation of the origin of premortal spirits. According
to his teachings, we are literal spirit children of Heavenly Parents who are created with the
capacity to progress to become like them. Joseph Smith’s revelations speak of God’s course as
“one eternal round,” possibly referring to the circular progression producing a new exalted
generation of God’s spiritual offspring.
These lofty teachings constitute part of the theology supporting Joseph Smith’s polygamy
and are easily classified as “gospel meat.” As Paul warned, doctrinal meat is reserved for the
faithful who have carefully prepared themselves (Hebrews 5:14; see also D&C 19:22).
Chapter
Plural Marriage in Joseph Smith’s Theology
In the preceding three chapters we have reviewed how Joseph Smith’s taught that eternal
sealings allow worthy men and women to become exalted, to become gods with a “continuation
of the seeds” or the ability to have spirit children after the resurrection. Within this theology is
the undeniable need for plural marriage.
Eternal Singleness for All Who are not Eternally Sealed
Joseph Smith instructed that exaltation does not occur to single individuals. No man or
woman receives a fullness of the celestial glory alone. Accordingly, all men and women need
the ordinance of eternal marriage. On May 16, 1843, he instructed William Clayton and others.
He [Joseph Smith] also said that in the celestial glory there was three heavens or degrees,
and in order to obtain the highest a man must enter into this order of the priesthood and if he don't
he can't obtain it. He may enter into the other but that is the end of his kingdom he cannot have
increase.132
Individuals who are not sealed in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage at the
time of the final judgment are not exalted. They may have never married on earth or they might
have enjoyed a loving, warm, satisfying civil marriage in mortality, but the authority used to
solemnize it did so for the duration, “until death do you part.” The Prophet declared such
unsealed persons “remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to
all eternity”:
Their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out
of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world.
Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage;
but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those
who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.
For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain
separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from
henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever...
Broad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to the deaths; and many there are that go
in thereat, because they receive me not, neither do they abide in my law. (D&C 132:15-17, 25.)
[I don’t think this refers to never married people; only to the married who refused
to be sealed.]
Orson Pratt further explained:
…there is another order of angels who never have ascended to these powers and dignities, to this
greatness and exaltation in the presence of God. Who are they? Those who never received the
everlasting covenant of marriage for eternity; those who have not continued in nor received that
law with all their hearts, or who, perhaps have fought against it. They become angels. They have
no power to increase and extend forth to kingdoms. They have no wives, no husbands, and they
are servants to those that sit upon thrones and rule over kingdoms, and are counted worthy of a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.133
Individuals who are not sealed inhabit the Terrestrial and
Telestial Kingdoms “singly” throughout eternity
[I thought the unsealed but righteous went to a lower degree of the celestial. You
will wound many faithful singles in the church if you relegate them to the
terrestrial kingdom.]
Parley P. Pratt appealed to all mankind to establish eternal marriage and family relations:
O candidates for celestial glory! Would your joys be full in the countless years of eternity
without forming the connexions, the relationship, the kindred ties which concentrate in the
domestic circle, and branch forth, and bud and blossom, and bear the fruits of eternal increase?
Would that eternal emotion of charity and benevolence which swells your bosoms be
satisfied to enjoy in "single blessedness," without an increase of posterity, those exhaustless
stores of never-ending riches and enjoyments? Or, would you, like your heavenly Father,
prompted by eternal benevolence and charity, wish to fill countless millions of worlds, with your
begotten sons and daughters, and to bring them through all the gradations of progressive being, to
inherit immortal bodies and eternal mansions in your several dominions?
If such be your aspirations, remember that this present probation is the world of
preparation for joys eternal. This is the place where family organization is first formed for
eternity; and where the kindred sympathies, relationships and affections take root, spring forth,
shoot upward, bud, blossom and bear fruit to ripen and mature in eternal ages.
Here, in the holy temples and sanctuaries of our God, must the everlasting covenants be
revealed, ratified, sealed, bound and recorded in the holy records, and guarded and preserved in
the archives of God's kingdom, by those who hold the keys of eternal Apostleship, who have
power to bind on earth that which shall be bound in heaven, and to record on earth that which
shall be recorded in the archives of heaven, in the Lamb's book of life.
Here, in the holy sanctuary, must be revealed, ordained and anointed the kings and
queens of eternity.
All vows, covenants, contracts, marriages, of unions, not formed by revelation, and
sealed for time and all eternity, and recorded in the holy archives of earth and heaven, by the
ministration of the holy and eternal PRIESTHOOD, will be dissolved by death, and will not be
recognized by the eternal authorities, after the parties have entered through the veil into the
eternal world.
This is heaven's eternal law, as revealed to the ancients of all ages, who held the keys of
eternal priesthood, after the order of the Son of God; and, as restored with the Priesthood of the
Saints of this age.134
Eternal and Plural Marriage – Inseparably Connected
As already discussed, Joseph Smith taught that ordinances are required for exaltation,
including the ordinance of eternal marriage sealings, joining a man and a woman together in
matrimony for eternity. Brigham Young instructed: “No man can be perfect without the
woman, so no woman can be perfect without a man to lead her. I will tell you the truth as it is in
the bosom of eternity, and I say so to every man upon the face of the earth – if he wishes to be
saved, he cannot be saved without a woman by his side.”135 In the Prophet’s ideology, every
exalted man has a wife and every exalted woman has a husband.
Inherent in the doctrine of eternal marriage is the unavoidable inclusion of plural
marriage. Why? Because at the end of the world, after all men and women have been judged,
the number of worthy men and women will probably not be exactly equal. If monogamy was the
only acceptable form of eternal marriage, individuals who were worthy but single could not be
exalted, having no eternal spouse. Some form of polygamy is needed or else worthy persons
would be denied exaltation unjustly.[Okay. I can see you are getting around to provide for the
never married on this earth.]
“Polygamy” means multiple marriages and has two forms. “Polygyny” is defined as one
man with more than one wife and “polyandry” as one woman with more than one husband (see
discussion in volume one, chapter eleven). In Joseph Smith’s theology, there would be more
worthy women than men at the judgment and resurrection. He taught the polygyny, when
authorized by God, was divinely accepted and that true polyandry was always adultery (D&C
132:63).136 [Do you think that polyandry is implicitly allowed for in D&C 132:41?]Without
divinely sanctioned polygyny, worthy single women might be denied exaltation simply because
there were not enough worthy men to go around. In 1886, Orson Pratt expounded: “Thus you
see that the very moment we admit the eternity of marriage…we undertake to follow that pattern,
plurality necessarily comes along; either marriage has no bearing upon eternity, and no bearing
upon immortality and immortal beings, or else plurality of wives necessarily must exist in
eternity.”137
Through eternal polygyny, all worthy women can be sealed to a husband
Joseph Smith instructed that when authorized by the “one” man on earth holding the
sealing keys (D&C 132:18), polygynous sealings can occur on earth during mortality. They can
also be performed by proxy after the unmarried women are deceased and will undoubtedly be a
focus of temple work during the millennium. Importantly, they must be performed prior to the
resurrection, “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage” (Matthew
22:30; see also Mark 12:24, 25). Undoubtedly by the end of the millennium, all worthy men and
women who were born on this earth will be bound to an eternal spouse, either through ordinances
for the living or vicariously.
President Young instructed:
I want to say a few words upon that peculiar subject or doctrine about which so much is
said, I mean celestial marriage… If men, since the fall, had done right, had kept the
commandments of God, women would have been willing to go with them and be Saints; and at
the present time there are thousands and millions of females who will receive the gospel whose
husbands, fathers, and brothers will reject it, and it crowds the necessity of taking more wives
than one upon the elders of Israel; for if they were not to do so a great many women never could
attain to the same exaltation hereafter they would not have the glory of propagating their species
and filling worlds and being associated with the Gods. But to prevent them being thus cut off
hereafter, the Elders of Israel, who are obedient to the priesthood, are under the necessity of
taking those that present themselves and who wish to be sealed to men. 138
Shall the daughters of Eve be placed in a position that they shall be deprived of the
highest degree of exaltation hereafter? No, no, this is contrary to the law of heaven, to the will of
God and the plan of salvation and exaltation, consequently this doctrine is introduced among the
children of men, and it must be carried out and obeyed, and who shall hinder it, for the Lord
Almighty has commanded it, and who says it shall not be so? This doctrine must be fulfilled, and
the people must be saved who will be saved.139
[Good quote. Supports your logic above.]
We recall the prediction of Isaiah 4:1; “And in that day seven women shall take hold of
one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by
thy name, to take away our reproach.” One possible application of this verse could be to
righteous single women during the millennium. Realizing the absolute need to be sealed to an
eternal husband prior to the resurrection, they are willing, if necessary, to share him with six
others and provide for their own maintenance. In vision, Wilford Woodruff saw that the
fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy would be during the millennium.140 Brigham Young expressed:
It is written in the Bible, "and in that day seven women shall take hold of one man,
saying, we will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name,
to take away our reproach”… It is the decree of the Almighty, that in the last days seven women
shall take hold of one man, &c., to be counselled and advised by him, being willing to spin their
own wool, make their own clothing and do every thing they can to earn their own living, if they
can only bear his name to take away their reproach. What is this order for? It is for the
resurrection; it is not for this world. I would not go across this bowery for polygamy, if it only
pertained to this world. It is for the resurrection.141
Plural Marriage Gets All the Publicity
As illustrated above, of necessity, plural marriage exists as a doctrinal element in Joseph
Smith’s theology, but it does not comprise a large part of it. Neither does it appear that the
doctrines taught by the Prophet were purposefully designed to convince the listener/reader that
plural marriage was a legitimate practice. The religious ideology introduced to the world by
Joseph Smith includes polygamy as one small concept that was necessary, but not fundamental
or dominant.
[Interesting judgment. It interprets polygamy as an expedient, a way to accommodate the
surplus of single women in the afterlife. I would be happy to go along with that explanation, but
would nineteenth-century Mormon theologians relegate the principle to this reduced status. I
have the impression that they thought polygamy was a superior organization for society and
essential to the exaltation of humankind.]
Critics who resort to reductionist theories like the idea that Joseph Smith’s libido
empowered the establishment of plural marriage, fail to explain the complex theology he
introduced that legitimized its practice. Good point If he had simply wanted to expand his sexual
license, he could have claimed to restore Old Testament plural marriage and have been done with
it. Since the Old Testament contains no theological explanations for polygamy, the Prophet
would have had no obligation to provide doctrinal justification. Nevertheless, he taught a very
multifaceted ideology that could easily confuse, distract, or perhaps alienate his Bible-believing
audience.
Fawn Brodie wrote: “Joseph was no careless libertine who could be content with
clandestine mistresses. There was too much of a Puritan in him, and he could not rest until he
had redefined the nature of sin and erected a stupendous theological edifice to support his new
theories on marriage.”142 Despite Brodie’s reasoning, there was absolutely no need for any
“theological edifice.” A simple declaration of restored patriarchal polygamy would have been
much more defensible that declaring a new ideology that contradicted several accepted
foundational Christian beliefs. Joseph Smith’s “theological edifice,” his teachings of eternal
sealings and the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, likely diminished his potential for
religious success, including his ability to establish polygamy as a tenet, if engaging in polygamy
was a primary motivator.
Even though plural marriage occupies a comparative minor position in Joseph Smith’s
global theology, it has received a thousand times more publicity since it was first taught in the
1840s than the rest of the associated doctrines all put together.143 John Jaques admitted in an
1853 issue of the Millennial Star: “Polygamy is not the first principle of the Gospel – it is not
the first principle the Church of God is entrusted with.”144 He also lamented: “Respecting this
doctrine [of polygamy], there has probably been more misrepresentation in newspaper and public
reports, than any other believed by the Saints. Some have represented that a promiscuous
intercourse of the sexes was practiced among the Saints – some, that a relation, denominated
‘spiritual wifeism,’ which allowed carnal privileges, was countenanced among them – others,
that a species of spiritual plurality, which did not include sexual intercourse, was entered
into.”145
Did Joseph Smith Teach Exaltation Requires Plural Marriage?
Did Joseph Smith ever teach that all men in the celestial kingdom are polygamists?
Sometimes Latter-day Saints reflect the idea that he did and that exalted women will be required
to share their husbands in the future world.146 Eugene England wrote of this fear expressed by
“many Mormons,” who seem to believe “that the highest form of marriage in the celestial realm
is what is technically called polygyny, plural wives for a single husband.”147 One former Church
member Janis Hutchinson recalled: “I was teaching the gospel doctrine class, that they would
one day have to live polygamy and the wife of one of the members of the Bishopric came over
and sat on the couch and shed bitter tears over the fact that she knew she could not share her
husband with anybody else… she suffered over this.”148 Margaret Toscano, who was
excommunicated for her feminist writings, asserted that LDS women are “worried they’re going
to be forced into polygamy in the next life.”149
One Church member, Shane LeGrande Whelan, was excommunicated “when he refused
to stop advertising and selling” his book, More Than One: Plural Marriage, A Sacred Heritage,
A Promise for Tomorrow. 150 After reading Church history, Whelan concluded: “Whether we
are commanded in this life or the next, the Lord has made it clear that participation in plural
marriage will be a requirement for those seeking exaltation in the celestial kingdom. This may
require a change in thinking for millions of members in the LDS Church who feel that living a
righteous life in monogamy is sufficient.”151 “It is clear that all marriages continued in heaven
will involve participation in plural marriage. Whether instituted in this life or the next, it will be
a part of our eternal existence.”152
While Whelan and others are entitled to their opinions, I have found no evidence that
Joseph Smith would have agreed. Nor does it appear that any other priesthood leader who was
taught by the Prophet ever mentioned such a sweeping and all inclusive concept.
In 1892 President Woodruff was asked, “if Joseph Smith had ever taught you at Nauvoo
or anywhere else during his lifetime, that in order for a man to be exalted in the hereafter, he
must have more than one wife?” To which he responded: “I don’t know that I ever heard him
make use of that expression or use that form of expression.”153
When asked: “Did Joseph Smith teach you that a man must have more than one wife to
be exalted,” Nauvoo resident and apostle’s wife, Bathsheba Smith responded: “I never heard of
that.”154
When Joseph C. Kingsbury was asked if Joseph Smith taught him “that a man could not
be exalted in the hereafter unless he had more wives than one,” Kingsbury replied: “No sir. He
did not teach me that. He did not say anything about that.”155 Kingsbury also recalled: “I heard
it preached from the stand that a man could be exalted in eternity with one wife.”156 When
asked: “Did you marry more wives than one then?” he replied: “No sir.” The questioner further
inquired: “Why not?” Kingsbury responded: “Because I did not want any then.”157 It does not
appear the Prophet pressured him to get as many wives as possible.
Wilford Woodruff recorded in his journal on February 12, 1870, that a Church member,
John Holement “made a long speech upon the subject of polygamy. He contended that no person
could have a Celestial glory unless he had a plurality of wives.” In response, President Brigham
Young clarified that “there would be men saved in the Celestial Kingdom of God with one wife
with many wives...”158 On another occasion, Brigham Young taught: “A man may embrace the
Law of Celestial Marriage in his heart and not take the second wife and be justified before the
Lord.”159 [What is the Law of Celestial Marriage? This quote implies it was polygamy. If it is
the statement also implies that the principle of plural marriage must be embraced in one’s
heart even if not practiced.]
A February 10, 1873 record of the Salt Lake School of the Prophets reads: “George B.
Wallace asked if Wm Clayton was correct in his sermon yesterday in the 17th Ward ‘That no man
who has only one wife in this probation can ever enter Celestial Kingdom,’ to which WW
[Wilford Woodruff] expressed disagreement and John Taylor said ‘he did not believe in the
views advanced by Bro Wm Clayton.’”160[Why then did William Clayton so preach? There
must have been a common feeling that plural marriage was essential.]
In 1884, First Presidency Counselor, George Q. Cannon, stated that, “He believed there
would be men in the Celestial Kingdom that had but one wife.”161 First Presidency Counselor
John Henry Smith, himself a polygamist, recalled in 1900 that APresident Young once proposed
that we marry but one wife.@162
Quoting Out of Context
For Utah Latter-day Saints, statements made before 1890 when plural marriage
was taught as a commandment can be quoted out of context to create the appearance that Church
leaders taught that all men in the Celestial Kingdom are polygamists.
A common quotation used to imply the need for all exalted beings to practice polygamy
was made in 1866 by Brigham Young: “The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of
God, are those who enter into polygamy. Others attain unto a glory and may even be permitted to
come into the presence of the Father and the Son; but they cannot reign as kings in glory.”163
However, earlier in the same discourse President Young acknowledged the more general
commandment: “If you desire with all your hearts to obtain the blessings which Abraham
obtained, you will be polygamists at least in your faith, or you will come short of enjoying the
salvation and the glory which Abraham has obtained.”164 [Which again implies that plural
marriage is the higher and the preferred state—and perhaps will be practiced in the next life.]
Another similar text comes from an 1878 discourse of Apostle Joseph F. Smith:
Some people have supposed that the doctrine of plural marriage was a sort of superfluity,
or non-essential, to the salvation or exaltation of mankind. In other words, some of the Saints
have said, and believe, that a man with one wife, sealed to him by the authority of the Priesthood
for time and eternity, will receive an exaltation as great and glorious, if he is faithful, as he
possibly could with more than one. I want here to enter my solemn protest against this idea, for I
know it is false.165 [Let me say that you are to be commended for bringing up the contrary
evidence and dealing with it. This increases the reader’s confidence in your candor.]
Was Elder Smith declaring that all men, irrespective of when and where they lived on
earth, were required to enter plural marriage to be exalted? Toward the beginning of his talk, he
clarified the scope of his declaration: “It [plural marriage] is a principle that pertains to eternal
life, in other words, to endless lives, or eternal increase. It is a law of the Gospel pertaining to
the celestial kingdom, applicable to all gospel dispensations, when commanded and not
otherwise, and neither acceptable to God or binding on man unless given by commandment, not
only so given in this dispensation.”166 [This is a critical point in my opinion.] Later in the same
discourse Elder Smith clarified: “I understand the law of celestial marriage to mean that every
man in this Church, who has the ability to obey and practice it in righteousness and will not, shall
be damned, I say I understand it to mean this and nothing less.”167 Proper authority is always
required or a person does not have “the ability to obey.” So if the man holding the keys were to
withhold authorization, irrespective of the reason, the ability to practice plural marriage (as
commanded at times by God) would instantly end. A clever point but not entirely in keeping
with the spirit of the statement.
It is true that in a few instances, God has commanded His followers to practice plural
marriage.168 But to assert that all exalted men, regardless of when and where they lived on earth,
will be eternal polygamists, is not supported by Joseph Smith’s teachings or those who heard him
teach. I agree with you, but I am not entirely convinced that the 19th century leaders did not
come close to teaching plural marriage as essential. My own opinion is that they went too far
in their effort to support an unpopular and difficult doctrine.
Similarly, sometimes authors mention specific quotations that refer to both, plural
marriage and eternal marriage, but they isolate the reference, making it appear as if it was strictly
referring to plural marriage. Todd Compton wrote: “The doctrine of plural marriage was of
central importance to Smith for religious doctrinal, ecclesiastical, and emotional reasons.
William Clayton, his scribe and companion in Nauvoo, wrote that the Mormon prophet spoke of
little else in private in the last year of his life.”169 The William Clayton quotation referred to by
Compton reads:
“After the revelation on celestial marriage [D&C 132 given July 12, 1843] was written,
Joseph continued his instructions, privately, on the doctrine to myself and others and during the
last year of his life we were scarcely ever together, alone, but he was talking on the subject, and
explaining that doctrine and principles connected with it. He appeared to enjoy great liberty and
freedom in his teachings, and also to find great relief in having a few to whom he could unbosom
his feelings on that great and glorious subject.
“From him I learned that the doctrine of plural and celestial marriage is the most holy
and important doctrine ever revealed to man on the earth, and that without obedience to that
principle no man can ever attain to the fullness of exaltation in celestial glory.” (Italics added.)170
Reviewing Clayton’s actual citation demonstrates that celestial marriage, not exclusively
plural marriage, was the focus of the Prophet’s constant discussion. Celestial marriage includes
plural marriage, but is not limited to it. Church President John Taylor distinguished between the
two in 1883 speaking to the Saints at Bear Lake, Idaho: “[God] has told us about our wives and
our children being sealed to us, that we might have a claim on them in eternity. He has revealed
unto us the Law of Celestial Marriage, associated with which is the principle of plural
marriage.”171
Summary
Joseph Smith taught that individuals who are not sealed in eternal marriage by priesthood
authority remain single and unexalted in eternity. At the final judgment, it appears the number of
worthy women will apparently outnumber the number of worthy men. Therefore, polygamy is
required to allow all worthy women to be sealed.
Despite its position as a minor element in the overall marital ideology taught by Joseph
Smith, plural marriage has received the bulk of publicity. This is undoubtedly due to the fact
that it deals with sex and religion. Yet celestial marriage has never been declared to be
doctrinally equivalent plural marriage, irrespective of the time and place couples have lived on
earth. A review of the Prophet’s teachings, and those of his Nauvoo listeners, does not support
that any of them declared that all men in the celestial kingdom are polygamists.
1
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 331.
2 See Journal of Discourses, 16:186, Brigham Young, September 4, 1873. See also JD 10:254, 12:162, and Millennial Star,
27:771, 31:203-04.
Andrew Ehat wrote: “To the best of my knowledge, there exists only one reference – a secondhand reminiscence attributed to
Bathseba W. Smith and not published until after her death that she in the Prophet’s Red Brick Store was sealed to her parents.
There is strong evidence that this secondhand account is in error. Apparently following Joseph Smith’s precedent, Brigham
Young never authorized that sealings or adoptions could be performed outside a temple. Thus, while authorization was given so
that every other ordinance of the temple was administered outside a temple during the period of 1846-47, the sealing of parents
and children was not. Wilford Woodruff, who did not have the privilege of temple ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple, remarked
after these ordinances were first performed again in the St. George Temple in 1877, that was the first time he had ever witnessed
the ceremony of sealing parents to children. (Andrew F. Ehat, "Joseph Smith's Introduction of Temple Ordinances and the
Mormon Succession Question." M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1982, 279 en414.) Richard E. Bennett wrote that in
templeless Winter Quarters, “adoption ceremonies formerly reserved for the temple were conducted in the wilderness.”
(Mormon’s at the Missouri: Winter Quarters, 1846-1852, Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1987, 190.) It seems unlikely that
actual priesthood ordinance adoption were performed. Rather personal covenants between the participants, covenants that would
later be ratified with formal ordinance work in a temple in the West, seem to have been more probable.
4 Recorded in Scott G. Kenny, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, 9 vols., Midvale, Utah: Signature Books,
1983-85, Vol. 2, 1841–1845, p.240, June 11, 1843.
5 Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, p.230.
6 Scott G. Kenny, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, 9 vols., Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983-85, 553
(June 18, 1870).
7 Journal of Discourses, 16:186, Brigham Young, September 4, 1873. See also JD 10:254, 12:162, and Millennial Star, 27:771,
31:203-04.
8 See discussion by Todd Compton in Devery S. Anderson and Gary James Bergera. Joseph Smith’s Quorum of the Anointed,
1842-1845: A Documentary History. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2005, xxxvii; and 215.
Irving, Gordon wrote in 1974: “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.” (
"The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830-1900." BYU Studies 14
[Spring 1974]: 295.) [291-314.]
9 Deceased children who were not sealed to Joseph Smith at his death included Alvin born and died June 15, 1828; twins
Thaddeus and Louisa born and died April 30, 1831; Don Carlos born Jun 13 1840 and died September 15, 1841; an unnamed son
born and died on February 6, 1842; another unnamed son born December 26, 1842; and living offspring: Joseph (III) born
November 6, 1832; Frederick Granger Williams born June 20, 1836; Alexander Hale born June 2, 1838. Only David Hyrum
born November 18, 1844 was sealed to Joseph and Emma having been conceived after they had been sealed in eternal marriage.
See discussion in chapter six.
10 Gordon Irving, "The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830-1900."
BYU Studies 14 (Spring 1974): 305. See also Brigham Young sermons in Journal of Discourses 10:254, 12:161-67, 16:186-89;
Millennial Star 27 (1865):771, 31 (1869):203-04.
11 Richard E. Bennett, “’Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept’: Reflections on the 1877 Commencement of the Performance of
Endowments and Sealings for the Dead,” BYUS, 44 (2005) 3:50. [39-77]
12 Richard E. Bennett, “’Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept’: Reflections on the 1877 Commencement of the Performance of
Endowments and Sealings for the Dead,” BYUS, 44 (2005) 3:61. [39-77]
13 George A. Smith quoted in “Christmas Assembly in St. George,” No. 5, Vol. 37, (February 2, 1875), 66.
14 Journal of Discourses, Vol.2, p.138, Brigham Young, Dec., 3, 1854
15 Hyrum Smith, [Conference Minutes], April 8, 1844, Richard E. Turley, Jr. Selected Collections from the Archives of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Provo, Utah: BYU Press, vol. 1, DVD # 1, volume 6, pages 1985-88 [1984-91]. The
edited form of the discourse including in the History of the Church (6:320-21) is found on page 11 of the addendum.
16 Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, Ch.6, p.46 - p.47
17 Parley P. Pratt, "Intelligence and Affection," in The Fountain of Knowledge; Immortality of the Body, and Intelligence and
Affection, Nauvoo: John Taylor Printer, 1840; quoted in The Essential Parley P. Pratt, Ch.10, p.129.
18 Orson Pratt, “The Pre-Existence of Man,” The Seer, Vol.1, No.3, p.37
19 Orson Pratt, “Celestial Marriage,” The Seer, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 46-47.
20 Brigham Young, March 8, 1857, JD 4:268.
3
For the sake of definitions, “ceremonial polyandry,” wherein a woman has two marriage ceremonies but does not
engage in “sexual polyandry” is not considered true polyandry.
21
22
Journal of Discourses, 18:55, Orson Pratt, July 11, 1875
Brigham Young, “Remarks,” October 27, 1875, Deseret News Weekly, 24:619.
24 Scott G. Kenny, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, 9 vols., Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983-85,
Vol. 6, p.527
25 Scott G. Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal: 1833-1898. Typescript. 9 vols. Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983, 7:31,
October 24, 1871.
23
26
Salt Lake City School of the Prophets, minutes, February 10, 1873, CHL.
Kenney, Scott G., ed. Wilford Woodruff’s Journal: 1833-1898. Typescript. 9 vols. Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983,
March 9, 1884, 8:235.
28 John Henry Smith, quoted in Anthon H. Lund, Diary, January 10, 1900; John P. Hatch, ed., Danish Apostle: The Diaries of
Anthon H. Lund, 1890-1921, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2006, 72.
27
29
Journal of Discourses, 11:269, Brigham Young, August 19, 1866. In 1875, excommunicated Church member Fanny
Stenhouse recalled: “We were told that in the other world Polygamy should be the only order of marriage, and that without it
none could be exalted in glory.” (Fanny Stenhouse, "Tell It All": The Story of a Life's Experiences in Mormonism. Hartford: A.
D. Worthington & Co., 1875, 140.)
30 Journal of Discourses, 11:268-269, Brigham Young, August 19, 1866; italics mine.
31 Journal of Discourses, 20:28, Joseph F. Smith, July 7, 1878
32 Journal of Discourses, 20:26, Joseph F. Smith, July 7, 1878; italics added.
33 Journal of Discourses, 20:31, Joseph F. Smith, July 7, 1878.
34 See Brian C. Hales, Modern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism: The Generations After the Manifesto, Salt Lake City:
Greg Kofford Books, 2006, 81-88.
35
Two additional documents were written within the context of polygamy, without discussing the topic specifically.
First was a revelation for Newell K. Whitney dictated on July 27, 1842. (Original manuscript in CHL; quoted in
Michael Marquardt, The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1999,
315-16). The second was a letter to Nancy Rigdon that begins “Happiness is the object and design of our
existence…” The original letter is lost. It was published in the “Sixth letter from John C. Bennett,” Sangamo
Journal, Springfield Illinois, August 19, 1842. Reprinted in John C. Bennett, The History of the Saints: Or an
Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland & Whiting, 1842, 243-45. Reprinted in History of the
Church, 5:134 and Joseph Fielding Smith, comp. and ed. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book, 1976 printing, 256.
36
Other contemporaneous sources that could be useful include William Law’s journal, begun January 1, 1844, (see
Lyndon W. Cook, William Law, Orem, Utah: Grandin Book Co., 1994) and his newspaper, The Nauvoo Expositor
(Nauvoo, Illinois, n.p., June 7, 1844); John C. Bennett’s The History of the Saints: Or an Exposé of Joe Smith and
Mormonism, (Boston: Leland & Whiting, 1842); Oliver H. Olney’s journal (originals at Yale) and 1843 publication,
The Absurdities of Mormonism Portrayed: A Brief Sketch (Hancock, Co: Illinois, March 3, 1843); Joseph H.
Jackson’s A Narrative of the Adventures and Experiences of Joseph H. Jackson in Nauvoo, Exposing the Depths of
Mormon Villainy (1844, reprinted for Karl Yost, Morrison, Illinois, 1960). Unfortunately, only Law appears to have
been a polygamy insider who was taught directly by Joseph Smith or his authorized leaders. He was positioned to
share many details concerning the practice in Nauvoo, but neither his journal, nor his publication, do so. All of
these men were estranged from the Church prior to writing their private and published materials. Rather than
providing details concerning the theology of Joseph Smith’s plural marriage teachings, they contain little doctrinal
discussion and demonstrably false claims and misinformation.
Andrea Moore-Emmett, God’s Brothel. San Francisco: Pince-Nez Press, 2004.
KUED interview by Doug Fabrizio undated mp3 in my possession.
39 Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, comps., The Words of Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980, Franklin D.
Richards “Scriptural Items”: 16 July 1843, 232.
37
38
Brigham Young wrote in 1845: “Joseph said that the sealing power is always vested in one man, and that there
never was, nor never would be but one man on the earth at a time to hold the –sealing power- keys of the sealing
power in the church, that all sealings must be performed by the man holding the keys or by his dictation, and that
man is the president of the church. Hyrum [Smith] held the patriarchal office legitimately… but the sealing power
was not in Hyrum, legitimately, neither did he act on the sealing principle only as he was dictated by Joseph in every
case [sic] This was proven, for Hyrum did in one case [sic] undertake to seal without counsel, & Joseph told him if
he did not stop it he would go to hell and all those he sealed with him. (Brigham Young to William Smith, "City of
Joseph, Aug 10th 1845," in Brigham Young Collection, CR 1234/1; Reel 24; CHL. See also William Smith to
Brigham Young, August 27th 1844, in Brigham Young Collection, incoming correspondence, CR 1234 1, Box 42,
Fd. 13, reel 55.)
41
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the
Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center,
1980, p.43.
42
See discussion in Brian C. Hales, The Veil, Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort, 2000.
43
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the
Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center,
1980, 37.
40
See Alexander L. Baugh, “’For This Ordinance Belongeth to My House’: The Practice of Baptism for the Dead Outside the
Nauvoo Temple,” Mormon Historical Studies, 3 (2002) 1:47-58
44
45
46
Collected Discourses, 2:209, Wilford Woodruff, April 6, 1891
Scott G. Kenny, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, 9 vols., Midvale, Utah: Signature Books,
1983-85, 2:341, January 21, 1844.
47 Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 319.
48 George A. Smith quoted in “Christmas Assembly in St. George,” No. 5, Vol. 37, (February 2, 1875), 66.
49
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 331.
50 See Journal of Discourses, 16:186, Brigham Young, September 4, 1873. See also JD 10:254, 12:162, and Millennial Star,
27:771, 31:203-04.
51 Andrew Ehat wrote: “To the best of my knowledge, there exists only one reference – a secondhand reminiscence attributed to
Bathseba W. Smith and not published until after her death that she in the Prophet’s Red Brick Store was sealed to her parents.
There is strong evidence that this secondhand account is in error. Apparently following Joseph Smith’s precedent, Brigham
Young never authorized that sealings or adoptions could be performed outside a temple. Thus, while authorization was given so
that every other ordinance of the temple was administered outside a temple during the period of 1846-47, the sealing of parents
and children was not. Wilford Woodruff, who did not have the privilege of temple ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple, remarked
after these ordinances were first performed again in the St. George Temple in 1877, that was the first time he had ever witnessed
the ceremony of sealing parents to children. (Andrew F. Ehat, "Joseph Smith's Introduction of Temple Ordinances and the
Mormon Succession Question." M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1982, 279 en414.) Richard E. Bennett wrote that in
templeless Winter Quarters, “adoption ceremonies formerly reserved for the temple were conducted in the wilderness.”
(Mormon’s at the Missouri: Winter Quarters, 1846-1852, Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1987, 190.) It seems unlikely that
actual priesthood ordinance adoption were performed. Rather personal covenants between the participants, covenants that would
later be ratified with formal ordinance work in a temple in the West, seem to have been more probable.
52
Recorded in Scott G. Kenny, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, 9 vols., Midvale, Utah: Signature Books,
1983-85, Vol. 2, 1841–1845, p.240, June 11, 1843.
53 Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, p.230.
54 Scott G. Kenny, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, 9 vols., Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983-85,
553 (June 18, 1870).
55 Journal of Discourses, 16:186, Brigham Young, September 4, 1873. See also JD 10:254, 12:162, and Millennial Star, 27:771,
31:203-04.
56 See discussion by Todd Compton in Devery S. Anderson and Gary James Bergera. Joseph Smith’s Quorum of the Anointed,
1842-1845: A Documentary History. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2005, xxxvii; and 215.
Irving, Gordon wrote in 1974: “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.” (
"The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830-1900." BYU Studies 14
[Spring 1974]: 295.) [291-314.]
57 Deceased children who were not sealed to Joseph Smith at his death included Alvin born and died June 15, 1828; twins
Thaddeus and Louisa born and died April 30, 1831; Don Carlos born Jun 13 1840 and died September 15, 1841; an unnamed son
born and died on February 6, 1842; another unnamed son born December 26, 1842; and living offspring: Joseph (III) born
November 6, 1832; Frederick Granger Williams born June 20, 1836; Alexander Hale born June 2, 1838. Only David Hyrum
born November 18, 1844 was sealed to Joseph and Emma having been conceived after they had been sealed in eternal marriage.
See discussion in chapter six.
58 Lisle Brown, Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Anointings: a Comprehensive Register of Persons Receiving LDS Temple
Ordinances, 1841-1846, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2006, x-xi, fn18.
59 Lisle Brown, Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Anointings: a Comprehensive Register of Persons Receiving LDS Temple
Ordinances, 1841-1846, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2006, 348.
60 See Lisle Brown, Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Anointings: a Comprehensive Register of Persons Receiving LDS Temple
Ordinances, 1841-1846, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2006, 151, 167, 245, 306, 332, 348.
61 In the Nauvoo Temple from December 11, 1845 to February 8, 1846, 92 living children were sealed to their living biological
parents and 202 living adults were “adopted” to non-relatives who were also living. (Lisle Brown, Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions,
and Anointings: a Comprehensive Register of Persons Receiving LDS Temple Ordinances, 1841-1846, Salt Lake City: Signature
Books, 2006, 361.) For a discussion of “adoption” sealings, see chapter 333.
62 Gordon Irving, "The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830-1900."
BYU Studies 14 (Spring 1974): 305. See also Brigham Young sermons in Journal of Discourses 10:254, 12:161-67, 16:186-89;
Millennial Star 27 (1865):771, 31 (1869):203-04.
63 Richard E. Bennett, “’Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept’: Reflections on the 1877 Commencement of the Performance of
Endowments and Sealings for the Dead,” BYUS, 44 (2005) 3:50. [39-77]
64 Richard E. Bennett, “’Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept’: Reflections on the 1877 Commencement of the Performance of
Endowments and Sealings for the Dead,” BYUS, 44 (2005) 3:61. [39-77]
65 George A. Smith quoted in “Christmas Assembly in St. George,” No. 5, Vol. 37, (February 2, 1875), 66.
66 Journal of Discourses, Vol.2, p.138, Brigham Young, Dec., 3, 1854
67 Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 10.
68 Scott G. Kenny, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, 9 vols., Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983-85,
Vol. 6, p.390, January 15, 1868.
69 Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, comps., The Words of Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980, William Clayton
Diary: 16 July 1843, 233.
70 (Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, comps., The Words of Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980, 205.) While not
specifically mentioning marriage, it might be an allusion to eternal contracts, which could include matrimony.
71
W.W. Phelps to Sally Phelps, May 26, 1835, LDS Journal History, photo reproduction of typescript in Richard E. Turley, Jr.
Selected Collections from the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Provo, Utah: BYU Press, vol. 2, DVD
# 1;. See also Bruce Van Orden, “Writing to Zion: The William W. Phelps Kirtland Letters (1835-1836),” BYU Studies 33 3
(1993) 550 [542-93]; M. Guy Bishop, “Eternal Marriage in Early Mormon Marital Beliefs,” The Historian, vol. 53, No. 1,
(Autumn 1990), 78 [77-88].
72 W. W. Phelps, “Letter No. 8,” Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, June 1835, Vol.1, No.9, p.130; italics mine.
73 Parley P. Pratt, Jr., ed., Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972, 297-98, (1985 edition, 259-60).
Some reviewers have asserted that “abiding the covenant” requires plural marriage. However, verse nineteen
promises exaltation to a man who marries a wife monogamously by proper authority and they live worthily..
74
75
Hyrum Smith, [Conference Minutes], April 8, 1844, Richard E. Turley, Jr. Selected Collections from the Archives of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Provo, Utah: BYU Press, vol. 1, DVD # 1, volume 6, pages 1985-88 [1984-91]. The
edited form of the discourse including in the History of the Church (6:320-21) is found on page 11 of the addendum.
76 Journal of Discourses, 19:245, John Taylor, October 21, 1877
77 Journal of Discourses, 2:215-216, George Albert Smith, March 18, 1855
78 Journal of Discourses, Vol.14, p.320 - p.321, George Q. Cannon, December 3rd, 1871.
79 Hyrum Smith, [Conference Minutes], April 8, 1844, Richard E. Turley, Jr. Selected Collections from the Archives of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Provo, Utah: BYU Press, vol. 1, DVD # 1, volume 6, pages 1985-88 [1984-91]. The
edited form of the discourse including in the History of the Church (6:320-21) is found on page 11 of the addendum.
80 Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 234.
81 George D. Smith, ed. An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1995, 234.
82 Parley P. Pratt, Jr., ed., Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972, 297-98, (1985 edition, 259-60).
83 Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, p.48-49
84 Elder John Taylor, “Lines, written in the Album of Miss Abby June Hart, of New York City,” [ New York, September 5,
1846], Millennial Star, vol. 8, no. 11, December 19, 1846, 179.
85 William Clayton account. Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary
Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies
Center, 1980, 357.
86 Orson Pratt, The Seer, Vol.1, No.2, p.23-p.24.
87 See discussion in Danel Bachman, “The Eternity of the Marriage Relationship,” in John Scott and John K. Challis, Riches Of
Eternity: 12 Fundamental Doctrines From The Doctrine And Covenants, (SLC: Aspen Books 1993), 204-05. [195-221]
88
Brigham Young taught: “Now understand, to choose life is to choose principles that will lead you to an eternal increase, and
nothing short of them will produce life in the resurrection for the faithful. Those that choose death, make choice of the path which
leads to the end of their organization. The one leads to endless increase and progression, the other to the destruction.” (Journal of
Discourses, 1:352, Brigham Young, July 10, 1853.)
89 Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 247.
90 Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 345.
91 Orson Pratt, The Seer, Vol.1, No.10, p.157
92 Journal of Discourses, 11:262, Brigham Young, August 12, 1866.
93 Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855, 171.
94 Parley P. Pratt, Jr., ed., Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972, 297-98, (1985 edition, 259-60).
95 F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the
Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, Franklin D. Richards "Scriptural
Items": 16 July 1843 (2) (Sunday Afternoon), p.232
96 Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 61.
97 Journal of Discourses, Vol.6, p.275, Brigham Young, August 28, 1852.
98 Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, Ch.6, p.46 - p.47
99 Parley P. Pratt, "Intelligence and Affection," in The Fountain of Knowledge; Immortality of the Body, and Intelligence and
Affection, Nauvoo: John Taylor Printer, 1840; quoted in The Essential Parley P. Pratt, Ch.10, p.129.
100 Orson Pratt, “The Pre-Existence of Man,” The Seer, Vol.1, No.3, p.37
101 Orson Pratt, “Celestial Marriage,” The Seer, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 46-47.
102 Journal of Discourses, 16:186, Brigham Young, September 4, 1873. See also JD 10:254, 12:162, and Millennial Star, 27:771,
31:203-04.
103 Journal of Discourses, 16:186-87, Brigham Young, September 4, 1873
104 Journal of Discourses, 18:249, Brigham Young, June 23, 1874.
105 Elizabeth Ann Whitney, “Reminiscences,” in Carol Cornwall Madsen, ed., In Their Own Words: Women and the Story of
Nauvoo, SLC: Deseret Book, 1994, 204.
Ancestral File. See also “First Child Born in Mormon Polygamy,” loose typescript in Stanley S. Ivins collection, box 11, fd 9,
13.
106
107
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the
Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center,
1980, 60.
108
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the
Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center,
1980, 367.
109
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the
Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center,
1980, 62.
110
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 9; see also
207.
111 Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 253.
112
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the
Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center,
1980, 350.
113
Joseph Smith, “Baptism for the Dead,” 3 (April 15, 1842) 759; italics added.
Susa Young Gates, “Eliza R. Snow Smith,” History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association: From November
1869 to June 1910, Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911, 16 footnote.
115 Eliza R. Snow, “My Father in Heaven,” Times and Seasons, (November 15, 1845) 6:1039. Wilford Woodruff considered the
words of the song to be inspired: “With regard to our position before we came here, I will say that we dwelt with the Father and
with the Son, as expressed in the hymn, ‘O My Father,’ that has been sung here. That hymn is a revelation, though it was given
unto us by a woman—Sister Eliza R. Snow. There are a great many sisters who have the spirit of revelation. There is no reason
why they should not be inspired as well as men.”MS 56:229, April 9, 1894. The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, p.61 - p.62.
Susa Young Gates left this account: “Although no one thought to ask Sister Snow in life to recount the incidents connected with
the composition of the famous and inspired hymn entitled ‘O my Father,’ we know from two of her associates, Sisters Bathsheba
W. Smith and Emmeline B. Wells, a little of the surroundings of the poetess at this time. She was living in Nauvoo at the home
of Stephen Markam and had for her own room a tiny upstairs chamber, whose sloping roof was all unfinished inside, but which
sheltered its inmate from snows and sun, while it provided a quiet retreat for occasional contemplation and composition. The
room was severely plain in its furnishings, with one small window to light the dim gloom of the half-completed story… It was in
such environments that the simple but divine words of that matchless Mormon hymnal were written.” ( “Eliza R. Snow Smith,”
History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association: From November 1869 to June 1910, Salt Lake City: Deseret
News, 1911, 15-16 footnote.)
116 The Mormon, "The Origin and Destiny of Woman," August 29, 1857; italics added. Quoted in Latter-day Prophets Speak:
Selections from the Sermons and Writings of Church Presidents [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1948], 9.
117 Brigham Young, April 9, 1852, JD 1 page 50.
118 Brigham Young, JD 4:216, February 8, 1857; Discourses of Brigham Young, 50.
119 Brigham Young, March 8, 1857, JD 4:268.
114
120
Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, 5th ed. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1893, 56.
Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, 5th ed. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1893, 51.
122
Parley P. Pratt, An Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was in the Island of Great Britain,
for the Gospel's Sake; And being in the Spirit on the 21st of November, A.D. 1846, addressed the following words of
comfort to his dearly-beloved Wife and family, dwelling in tents, in the camp of Israel, at Council Bluffs, Missouri
Territory, North America; where they and twenty thousand others were banished by the civilized Christians of the
United States, for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus, London: J. B. Franklin, 1851?, 1.
121
123
Both estimated that the one-third cast out of heaven for rebellion constituted about 100,000,000, making the overall total
300,000,000. Wilford Woodruff explained : “I suppose we may say that at least one hundred thousand millions [one hundred
billion] were cast down from heaven to earth” (Collected Discourses, Vol.1, Wilford Woodruff, April 7, 1889, 1:243). Orson
Pratt further elaborated: We may form some little calculation of the vast numbers thus thrown out of Heaven, when we consider
that they were one-third of all the spirits that were born, intended for this creation. Only two-thirds kept their first estate, and
they have the great privilege of coming here to this creation and taking bodies of flesh and bones, tabernacles wherein their spirits
may dwell, to prepare themselves for a more glorious state of existence hereafter. If, then, only two-thirds of the hosts of Heaven
are to come to our earth to tabernacle in the flesh, we may form some idea of the vast number who fell. Already our earth has
teemed for six thousand years with numberless millions of human beings whose spirits existed before the foundation of the
world. Those who now exist probably number one thousand or twelve hundred millions. Twelve hundred millions of spirits now
dwelling in mortal flesh! Think of the immense numbers who must have preceded us and the myriads who are to come! These
are the two-thirds who kept their first estate. Their numbers, probably, cannot be less than two hundred thousand millions,
leaving, as an approximate estimate, one hundred thousand millions [one hundred billion] of rebellious spirits or devils who
were cast out from Heaven and banished to this creation, having no privilege of fleshly tabernacles. (JD 13:63; italics added.)
Parley P. Pratt, “Celestial Family Organization,” Millennial Star, vol. 5, no. 12, (May 1845), 189, 191.
JD 19:314, Orson Pratt, October 7, 1867. Apostle Lorenzo Snow taught similarly: “We were born in the image of God our
Father; he begot us like unto himself.” (Journal of Discourses, Vol.14, p.302, Lorenzo Snow, January 14, 1872.)
126 Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo
Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980, 247.
127 Journal of Discourses, Vol.23, p.65, John Taylor, April 9th, 1882
124
125
128
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the
Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center,
1980, 344-45; italics added.
129
Andrew F. Ehat, and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the
Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center,
1980, 344-45; italics added.
130
131
Orson Hyde, "A Diagram of the Kingdom of God," Millennial Star 9 (January 15, 1847): 23-24.
Orson Pratt, The Seer, Vol.1, No.9, p.134-p.135.
132
George D. Smith, ed. An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton. Salt Lake City: Signature Books,
1995. 102.
133
Orson Pratt, October 7, 1869, Journal of Discourses, 13:187.
Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855, 161-63
135 Brigham Young, “Speech Delivered April 6, 1845,” Millennial Star, Oct 1, 1845, 6:121.
134
For the sake of definitions, “ceremonial polyandry,” wherein a woman has two marriage ceremonies but does not
engage in “sexual polyandry” is not considered true polyandry.
136
137
Journal of Discourses, 18:55, Orson Pratt, July 11, 1875
Brigham Young, “Remarks,” October 27, 1875, Deseret News Weekly, 24:619.
139 Brigham Young, “Remarks,” October 27, 1875, Deseret News Weekly, 24:619.
140 “A vision,” June 15, 1878, Wilford Woodruff's Journal, Vol. 7, p.423.
141 Journal of Discourses, 11:271, Brigham Young, August 19, 1866.
138
142
Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, 2nd rev. ed. New
York, 1971, 297.
143
It is not uncommon for historical works written to the general public to contain a disproportionate number of references to
polygamy. For example, according to their respective indexes, non-LDS writer Thomas F. O’Dea refers to polygamy on 35 of
the 289 pages in his book, The Mormons (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1957), which constitutes twelve percent of the total.
In his tastefully published A New Zion: the Story of the Latter-day Saints, (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2004), Bill Harris
refers to polygamy on fourteen different pages out of the total of 128 (about eleven percent of the pages in the book).
144 John Jacques, “Polygamy,” Millennial Star, 15:162 (March 12, 1853).
145 “Polygamy,” Millennial Star, 15:11 (March 12, 1853), 165.
146 See for example Lynn Matthews Anderson, “Buttons, Or, Her Strength Is In Her Principles,” (From the Personal Oral History
of Donelle Lou Clawson Phelps), Sunstone 16:5/65 (Jul 93).
147 England, Eugene. “On Fidelity, Polygamy, and Celestial Marriage.” In Multiply and Replenish: Mormon
Essays on Sex and Family. Edited by Brent Corcoran. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994, 105 [103-22]. Reprinted from
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 20 (Winter 1987): 138-54.
148 Quoted on Lifting the Veil of Polygamy, Living Hope Ministries, DVD, 2007.
149 Quoted by Lisa Miller, “Beliefwatch, Ever After,” Newsweek, September 3, 2007, 13.
150 Martha Sonntag Bradley, “Out of the Closet and into the Fire: The New Mormon Historians’ Take on Polygamy,” in
Excavating Mormon Pasts: The New Historiography of the Last Half Century, Newell G. Bringhurst and Lavina Fielding
Anderson, ed.Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2004, 321. [303-22]
151 Shane LeGrande Whelan, More than One: Plural Marriage, A Sacred Heritage, A Promise for Tomorrow Bountiful, Utah:
Zion’s Publishers, 2001, 153.
152 Shane LeGrande Whelan, More than One: Plural Marriage, A Sacred Heritage, A Promise for Tomorrow Bountiful, Utah:
Zion’s Publishers, 2001, 208.
153 Wilford Woodruff, Testimony at the Temple Lot Case, part 3, page 66, question 698. President Woodruff’s choice of words
reflects some ambiguity. However, if the Prophet had ever taught the doctrine in question using other words, or if it constituted
an official belief of the Church, there seems to be few reason to avoid a simple admission.
154 Bathsheba Smith, Testimony given in the Temple Lot Case, part 2, page 319, questions 590-91.
155 Joseph Kingsbury, Testimony at the Temple Lot Case, part 2, page 225, questions 1028-1029.
156 Joseph Kingsbury, Testimony at the Temple Lot Case, part 2, page 205, question 600.
157 Joseph Kingsbury, Testimony at the Temple Lot Case, part 3, page 21, questions 732-34.
158 Scott G. Kenny, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, 9 vols., Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983-85,
Vol. 6, p.527
159 Scott G. Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal: 1833-1898. Typescript. 9 vols. Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983,
7:31, October 24, 1871.
160
Salt Lake City School of the Prophets, minutes, February 10, 1873, CHL.
Kenney, Scott G., ed. Wilford Woodruff’s Journal: 1833-1898. Typescript. 9 vols. Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983,
March 9, 1884, 8:235.
161
162
John Henry Smith, quoted in Anthon H. Lund, Diary, January 10, 1900; John P. Hatch, ed., Danish Apostle: The Diaries of
Anthon H. Lund, 1890-1921, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2006, 72.
163 Journal of Discourses, 11:269, Brigham Young, August 19, 1866. In 1875, excommunicated Church member Fanny
Stenhouse recalled: “We were told that in the other world Polygamy should be the only order of marriage, and that without it
none could be exalted in glory.” (Fanny Stenhouse, "Tell It All": The Story of a Life's Experiences in Mormonism. Hartford: A.
D. Worthington & Co., 1875, 140.)
164 Journal of Discourses, 11:268-269, Brigham Young, August 19, 1866; italics mine.
165 Journal of Discourses, 20:28, Joseph F. Smith, July 7, 1878
166 Journal of Discourses, 20:26, Joseph F. Smith, July 7, 1878; italics added.
167 Journal of Discourses, 20:31, Joseph F. Smith, July 7, 1878.
168 See Brian C. Hales, Modern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism: The Generations After the Manifesto, Salt Lake City:
Greg Kofford Books, 2006, 81-88.
169 Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997, 10; see also
636.
170 Andrew Jenson, Historical Record, 6:226; see also George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle; The Journals of William
Clayton, p. 559. Carmon Hardy writes similarly, implying in his writing that Clayton’s reference to “celestial” marriage was
actually a reference to “plural” marriage. See B. Carmon Hardy, Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage. Urbana:
University of Illinois, 1992, 7.
171 John Taylor, (no day) 1883, Journal of Discourses, 24:229; emphasis mine. President Taylor added: “[The law of Celestial
marriage] is one of the greatest blessings that ever was conferred upon the human family. It is an eternal law which has always
existed in other worlds as well as in this world” (ibid.).