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Revelation, 12 July 1843 [D&C 132]

Source Note

Revelation, , Hancock Co., IL, 12 July 1843. Featured version copied [12 July 1843]; handwriting of ; eight pages; Revelations Collection, CHL. Includes notation, docket, and redactions.
Two bifolia measuring 7⅝ × 12¼ inches (19 × 31 cm). The pages are ruled with thirty-seven lines that are now faded. Each bifolium bears a number on the top of the recto of the first leaf: “No 1” and “No 2”. The two sheets were trifolded together in letter style. The first page bears a notation from in ink, and Bullock apparently paginated every odd page beginning with page 3. The final page bears the stylized initials “WR” in graphite, likely standing for . Each page, including pages already numbered by Bullock, was paginated in graphite by an unidentified scribe; the word “Inside” was also inscribed in graphite on the first page by an unidentified scribe. Wear to the final page due to folding has obscured some words on one line.
The document appears to have remained in the custody of while he joined the Latter-day Saint exodus through to Winter Quarters in 1846. In 1847, in Winter Quarters, Whitney instructed his son Horace to copy the revelation manuscript. Newel retained the copy made by Horace and gave the earliest copy to , who presumably took it with him to the Salt Lake Valley. In 1852, the year the revelation was first published, Young told an audience of church members that “this Revelation has been in my possession many years.” , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865, likely docketed the manuscript around the time it was published. Bullock’s docket perhaps indicates that the document was transferred from Brigham Young’s office to the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) by 1865. By 1983, the document had been included in the Revelations Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s history, its early Utah docket, and its inclusion in the Revelations Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Whitney, Newel Kimball,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:227. Joseph Kingsbury stated that Whitney told him he brought the copy to Salt Lake City. (Joseph Kingsbury, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 17 Mar. 1892, p. 228, question 1112, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. [C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894], typescript, United States Testimony, CHL.)

    Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

  2. [2]

    Whitney, Journal, 14 Mar. 1847; Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, “Scenes and Incidents at Winter Quarters,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 July 1885, 14:31.

    Whitney, Horace K. Journals , 1843, 1846–1847. CHL. MS 1616.

    Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.

  3. [3]

    “A Special Conference of the Elders of the Church,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Extra, 14 Sept. 1852, 25. A gathering of church leaders read from the revelation on 8 August, presumably from this copy. (See Historian’s Office, Journal, 8 Aug. 1852.)

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

    Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

  4. [4]

    Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  5. [5]

    See the full bibliographic entry for Revelations Collection, ca. 1829–1876, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 12 July 1843, JS dictated a revelation in , Illinois, on eternal and plural marriage. Since the mid-1830s, JS had evidently been teaching some monogamous couples that their unions would endure into eternity if they remained faithful. Although the origins of plural marriage among the Saints are obscure, later accounts state that JS received a commandment from God sometime in the 1830s to enter into the practice. Several Latter-day Saints later reported that JS married one plural wife in the mid-1830s while living in , Ohio, and by the early 1840s, he had discreetly introduced the doctrine and practice to a number of trusted women and men in and around Nauvoo. By summer 1843, JS had entered into about twenty-five confidential , or plural unions. While evidence of these activities is found in contemporaneous documentation, JS did not commit to paper a revelation outlining the doctrine and practice until dictating the document featured here. JS’s first and only publicly recognized wife, , showed marked ambivalence toward her husband’s secret practice of plural marriage, at times rejecting the doctrine and at other times reluctantly accepting it. However, by July 1843 the practice had become a major source of distress between them. In hopes of alleviating the tension, JS’s brother urged him to dictate a written revelation to persuade Emma of the divine origin of plural marriage. The resulting revelation expounded principles behind both plural and eternal marriage.
JS’s teachings on the eternal nature of marriage expanded upon the wider culture’s view of marriage as a civil contract. Christians believed that the resurrection of Jesus Christ assured them an afterlife with eternal rewards. Early Christian theologians debated the nature of relationships in the afterlife, with many claiming that the afterlife would involve reuniting with family members or meeting prominent religious figures. By the time of the Reformation, English Protestants began formulating ideas about the nature of society in heaven that included the continuation of family or friend relationships. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Americans increasingly viewed marriage as a union based on love, romance, or passion rather than utility or mutual economic benefit. This new outlook on marriage was reflected in religious beliefs, and individuals anticipated maintaining earthly ties and relationships in the next life. JS’s contemporaries increasingly developed a belief in heaven as a place where they would not only glorify God but where they could also continue to love their spouses, family, and friends.
This rich Christian context, then, offers a backdrop to JS’s teaching that marriage, when performed under authority, could last into the eternities. In May 1835, , who was visiting , Ohio, wrote to his wife, , about this development: “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 new doctrine prompted some church members to consider an eternal perspective—the doctrine not only clarified the eternal duration of the marriage bond but also taught that marriages, when sealed by priesthood authority, could unlock individuals’ eternal potential. In April 1843, JS taught that the “same sociality which exists amongst us here will exist among us” in the hereafter. But the “sociality” was based upon rituals performed through the priesthood. In May 1843, JS explained that “except a man and his wife enter into an 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.” He additionally taught that “those who are married by the power & authority of the priesthood in this life” would “continue to increase & have children in the .” The revelation featured here specified that those entering into this covenant would “pass by the angels and the Gods which are Set there to their exaltation and Glory in all things as hath been Sealed upon their heads which glory Shall be a fullness and a Continuation of the Seeds for ever and ever.”
By the time JS dictated this July 1843 revelation, approximately seven legally married couples had each been sealed for eternity by priesthood authority, with JS serving as officiator in some of the sealings. In some instances, men were sealed to plural wives; in other instances, men were sealed by proxy to a deceased first wife as well as to a living wife; and in one case, the sealing of the couple took place following the plural marriage of their daughter.
Plural marriage ran counter to both social customs and existing laws. law included an antibigamy statute. Such laws reflected a general antagonism in Anglo-European society toward polygamy. Christian theologians had long debated the practice of polygamy by the biblical patriarchs, with some, like Martin Luther, defending it as divinely sanctioned. Others, such as John Calvin, argued that Abraham had erred in participating in the practice. While Americans in JS’s day still debated the legitimacy of polygamy as practiced by Abraham and other ancient patriarchs, a broad cultural consensus against any contemporary practice of plural marriage existed.
Given the cultural opposition to polygamy, Latter-day Saints who were invited to participate in plural marriage generally required explanation and persuasion before they agreed to do so. Most of this instruction occurred in private conversations that were rarely recorded contemporaneously, although some participants summarized their discussions with JS and others decades later in autobiographies and other reminiscent accounts. The authors of these reminiscences recorded that, following these conversations, they sought—and often received—spiritual confirmation that the practice was inspired. On rare occasions, however, JS cautiously wrote brief instructions and teachings regarding plural marriage. In a few known instances, JS wrote letters to explain and defend plural marriage. Employing a common letter-writing convention of the time, JS included explicit requests to burn such missives upon reading. JS also dictated or wrote blessings and a revelation that obliquely addressed the doctrine and promised eternal rewards for those who entered the practice. In July 1842, he dictated a revelation for , a close confidant and church leader, that provided instructions for the sealing of JS to Whitney’s daughter . The following March, JS composed two blessings, the first for Sarah Ann and the second for , who had agreed to be Sarah Ann’s husband in a civil union. While the revelation featured here addressed JS’s specific situation with in July 1843, it also reflected these earlier teachings on plural marriage.
According to JS, biblical and divine teachings provided the impetus for the revelation. In June 1844, JS stated that he received the revelation “on enquiry” about Matthew 22:30 in the New Testament, which reads, “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.” The revelation featured here begins by acknowledging questions JS had about the Old Testament practice of polygamy. In addition to citing biblical precedent, the featured revelation foregrounds several theological explanations for the practice, including the ultimate authority of God’s law; the blessings and eternal rewards for those entering into the practice; and the consequences of not following God’s law for those who had it “revealed unto them” but did not obey it.
struggled with JS’s new marriages in the months leading up to July 1843. Since the beginning of 1843, JS was sealed to at least thirteen additional wives, most of whom were married to him without Emma’s knowledge. Although details regarding Emma’s reactions to JS’s practice of plural marriage prior to 1843 are scarce, she evidently came to accept the doctrine, albeit temporarily, by May of that year, on the condition that she could choose the women to whom JS would be sealed. That month, she selected and , who were then ages twenty-three and nineteen and living in the Smith household, as potential marriage partners to JS. In fact, JS had already been sealed to the sisters two months earlier. JS and the Partridge sisters sought to avoid confrontation by repeating the marriages, with Emma’s blessing, as if for the first time. Likely during the same month, Emma suggested JS marry and , ages nineteen and sixteen or seventeen, another pair of sisters who were living in the Smith household. However, Emily Partridge later testified that Emma became embittered “soon after” the Partridge sisters’ second wedding ceremony. By the end of June, JS’s scribe noted, Emma was treating JS “coldly & badly” and “was disposed to be revenged on him,” saying “she thought that if he would indulge himself she would too.”
JS’s late June arrest on charges stemming from the 1838 conflict and the subsequent proceedings before the Nauvoo Municipal Court delayed a potential reconciliation between JS and until mid-July. later recalled that on the morning of 12 July, JS and came into the “small upstairs in the rear of the ,” and Clayton overheard them discussing plural marriage. The brothers’ conversation turned to Emma’s difficulties with the practice. Initially, Hyrum was staunchly opposed to the practice of polygamy, which he had heard of through rumors, but in May 1843 he became both intellectually and spiritually convinced that the doctrine was inspired. Believing that Emma could be convinced of the doctrine, Hyrum told JS he could persuade her with the aid of a written revelation. “If you will write the revelation,” Hyrum reportedly told JS, “I will take, and read it to Emma, and I believe I can convince her of its truth, and you will hereafter have peace.” JS expressed his doubts, to which Hyrum replied, “The doctrine is so plain I can convince any reasonable man or woman of its truth, purity and heavenly origin.”
Assenting to ’s urging, JS dictated the revelation that morning to in JS’s . Clayton recalled that JS dictated the “Revelation on Celestial marriage” over the course of three hours, speaking slowly, “sentence by sentence,” as Clayton wrote. Following the initial creation of the document, he remembered, “Joseph requested me to read it slowly and carefully which I did, and he then pronounced it correct.” According to Clayton, the written revelation was only a portion of what could have been inscribed, but JS explained that “what was written was sufficient for the present.” Clayton wrote in his journal that the original revelation comprised ten pages. He also gave his own contemporaneous understanding of the revelation, explaining that it contained “the order of the priesthood,” including “the designs in Moses, Abraham, David and Solomon having many wives & concubines &c.”
The revelation framed both eternal and plural marriages as contracts ratified by priesthood authority. Unlike civil marriages, sealings performed by priesthood authority did not have to end with the death of either party but could persist into eternity. In addition, the revelation outlined regulations for plural marriages and the rights of first wives. The revelation did not distinguish between types of plural marriages; nevertheless, reminiscent statements of some individuals who were sealed to JS or who otherwise participated in plural marriage in this era suggest that early Latter-day Saints distinguished between sealings for time and eternity—involving relationships in this life and in the next life—and sealings for eternity alone—involving commitments only in the next life.
documented in his journal that JS and “presented” and read the revelation to . The latter part of the revelation contained language directed to Emma, specifying severe consequences if she continued in her resistance to the doctrine and commanding her to forgive JS so that she could be forgiven and so that God could “bless her and multiply her, and make her heart to rejoice.” Hyrum’s confidence that he could convince Emma of the doctrine proved misplaced. According to Clayton, Emma “did not believe a word of it and appeared very rebellious.” Following the visit to Emma, JS “put the Revelation in his pocket” and left the . Over the next few days, the revelation was read by “several of the authorities” of the church. Clayton remembered that “two or three days” after the dictation of the revelation, JS reported that “Emma had teazed, and urgently entreated him for the privilege of destroying it; that he became so weary of her teazing, and to get rid of her annoyance, he told her she might destroy it, and she had done so, but he had consented to her wish in this matter to pacify her.” similarly reported that Emma “burned the original, thinking she had destroyed the only written document upon the subject in existence.”
Unbeknownst to , a copy of the revelation was made, either the evening of 12 July or the next day, before she destroyed the original. After reviewing the revelation, asked JS whether a copy could be made, and JS consented. —who was Whitney’s former brother-in-law, a clerk in JS’s , and legal husband to Whitney’s daughter —“carefully copied” the revelation, after which the copy was compared against the original for accuracy. As scribe for the original dictation, affirmed in 1874 that “the copy made by Joseph C. Kingsbury is a true and correct copy of the original in every respect.”
Four days after he dictated this revelation, JS preached a discourse on “the law of the priesthood” and described eternal marriage without mentioning plural marriage. JS explained “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.” Although he did not explicitly acknowledge the existence of a new written revelation on the subject, he indicated that “he could not reveal the fulness of these things untill the is completed.” While the closing lines of the revelation (reading “therefore let this Suffice for the present”) hint at additional instruction, no additional written revelations on the subject are known. JS did, however, continue to develop some of the theological reasoning behind sealing, eternal progress, and other doctrine touched on in this revelation.
After the revelation was inscribed, it circulated privately among a small group of individuals and was used to support the practice of plural marriage. For instance, in August 1843, read the revelation to the and then elaborated on its content for “about an hour” and testified it was true. Later in her life, testified that she not only saw and read the revelation but “had it in [her] possession for quite a little while,” or “four or five days,” after which she returned it to Hyrum Smith. Not everyone close to JS immediately saw the copy of the revelation. wrote to and spoke of a “New Revelation,” though he stated that he had “not seen it yet.” While knowledge of the revelation and plural marriage remained guarded, JS began teaching the doctrine of eternal marriage publicly. In early January 1844, wrote to his daughter, Mary, about possibilities he saw as exciting: “Several revelations of good utility & uncommon interest have been lately communicated to Joseph & the Church; . . . one is that all Marriage contracts or Covenants are to be ‘Everlasting,’ that is . . . for both Time & Eternity.” Scott continued, explaining that if a man “desires to be married to his deceased wife, a Sister in the Church stands as Proxy or as a representative of the deceased in attending to the marriage ceremony.” Personalizing the news, Scott, who was called to serve a mission in Ireland, told his daughter, “I intend to be married to the wife of my youth before I go.”
Though the revelation stipulated dire consequences for those who did not obey the law after having it “revealed unto them,” some Latter-day Saint women and men who were introduced to the doctrine of plural marriage delayed entering into the practice, declined specific marriage proposals, or rejected outright the doctrine itself; some of them remained in the church in . JS’s own entrance into new plural marriages apparently decreased dramatically after he dictated this revelation—he entered only two new marriages with known dates—though he or others appointed to do so continued to seal other plural and monogamous couples through the end of his life.
For the remainder of the nineteenth century, the copy of the revelation provided the textual support for Latter-day Saint belief in eternal marriage and the practice of plural marriage. All other extant versions are based on the Kingsbury copy. As the earliest extant version of the 12 July 1843 revelation, it is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See, for example, William W. Phelps, Kirtland, OH, to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 26 May 1835, William W. Phelps, Papers, BYU.

    Phelps, William W. Papers, 1835–1865. BYU.

  2. [2]

    See Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Statement, 8 Feb. 1902, 1, Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner Family Collection, CHL; William W. Phelps to Brigham Young, 12 Aug. 1861, Revelations Collection, CHL; and Joseph F. Smith, New York City, NY, to John Taylor et al., [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], 17 Sept. 1878, draft, pp. [23]–[24], Joseph F. Smith, Papers, CHL.

    Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner Family Collection, 1833–1973. CHL. MS 29376.

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

    Smith, Joseph F. Papers, 1854–1918. CHL. MS 1325.

  3. [3]

    See Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 2:323–336; and Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 4–7. Because not all sealing dates are known, it is likely that before summer 1843, JS married other women who are not in this tally.

    Hales, Brian C. Joseph Smith’s Polygamy. 3 vols. SLC: Greg Kofford Books, 2013.

    Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001.

  4. [4]

    William Clayton, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Madison Scott, 11 Nov. 1871, [1]–[2], copy; William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [2]–[3], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL. JS may have received revelation on plural marriage in the early 1830s. Joseph B. Noble, an early believer in plural marriage, recollected that JS said he received such a revelation while working on his revision, or “translation,” of the Bible between 1830 and 1833. In addition, William W. Phelps later recalled that JS gave a “long revelation” in 1831—which Phelps reconstructed from memory in the 1860s—that may have encouraged plural marriage between white Latter-day Saints and Native peoples in Indian territory. Evidence exists that JS introduced plural marriage as a divinely sanctioned practice well before 1843. He dictated the words of a plural marriage ceremony in 1842, but no pre-1843 revelation that lays out the doctrine and practice has been located. JS and Emma Smith’s nephew Joseph F. Smith later commented that “had it [the revelation] been then written with a view to its going out as a doctrine of the church, it would have been presented in a somewhat different form. There are personalities contained in a part of it which are not relevant to the principle itself, but rather to the circumstances which necessitated its being written at that time.” (“Plural Marriage,” Historical Record, May 1887, 6:232–233; Council of Fifty, Minutes, 27 Feb. 1845; William W. Phelps to Brigham Young, 12 Aug. 1861, Revelations Collection, CHL; Joseph F. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 7 July 1878, 20:29; see also “Report of Elders Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith,” Millennial Star, 16 Dec. 1878, 40:788; and Orson Pratt, in Journal of Discourses, 7 Oct. 1869, 13:193.)

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    The Historical Record, a Monthly Periodical, Devoted Exclusively to Historical, Biographical, Chronological and Statistical Matters. Salt Lake City. 1882–1890.

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

    Journal of Discourses. 26 vols. Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855–1886.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  5. [5]

    See, for example, Clayton, Journal, 23 June 1843; and Emily Dow Partridge Young, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 19 Mar. 1892, pp. 350–351, questions 21, 24, 31, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894), typescript, United States Testimony, CHL.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

  6. [6]

    William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [3], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  7. [7]

    McDannell and Lang, Heaven: A History, 60–61, 155–156; Smith, Heaven in the American Imagination, 77–84.

    McDannell, Colleen, and Bernhard Lang. Heaven: A History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.

    Smith, Gary Scott. Heaven in the American Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

  8. [8]

    Marshall, “Company of Heaven,” 311–333.

    Marshall, Peter. “The Company of Heaven: Identity and Sociability in the English Protestant Afterlife c. 1560–1630.” Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques 26, no. 2 (Summer 2000): 311–333.

  9. [9]

    Holifield, Theology in America, 213; see also McDannell and Lang, Heaven: A History, chaps. 4, 8.

    Holifield, E. Brooks. Theology in America: Christian Thought from the Age of the Puritans to the Civil War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.

    McDannell, Colleen, and Bernhard Lang. Heaven: A History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.

  10. [10]

    McDannell and Lang, Heaven: A History, chap. 8.

    McDannell, Colleen, and Bernhard Lang. Heaven: A History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.

  11. [11]

    William W. Phelps, Kirtland, OH, to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 26 May 1835, William W. Phelps, Papers, BYU; see also William W. Phelps, [Kirtland, OH], to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16 Sept. 1835, private possession, copy at CHL; William W. Phelps, “Letter No. 8,” Messenger and Advocate, June 1835, 1:130; Pratt, Autobiography, 329–330; and Letter to Emma Smith, 16 Aug. 1842.

    Phelps, William W. Papers, 1835–1865. BYU.

    Phelps, William W. Letter, [Kirtland, OH], to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 16 Sept. 1835. Private Possession. Copy at CHL. MS 4587.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

  12. [12]

    Flake, “Development of Early Latter-day Saint Marriage Rites,” 78–79. For a broad history of marriage during JS’s time, see Cott, Public Vows, chaps. 2–3.

    Flake, Kathleen. “The Development of Early Latter-day Saint Marriage Rites, 1831–53.” Journal of Mormon History 41, no. 1 (Jan. 2015): 77–102.

    Cott, Nancy F. Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.

  13. [13]

    Instruction, 2 Apr. 1843 [D&C 130].

  14. [14]

    Instruction, 16 May 1843.

  15. [15]

    Instruction, 16 May 1843; see also Discourse, 21 May 1843.

  16. [16]

    Bergera, “Earliest Eternal Sealings,” 55; Clayton, Journal, 22 July 1843.

    Bergera, Gary James. “The Earliest Eternal Sealings for Civilly Married Couples Living and Dead.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 35, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 41–66.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  17. [17]

    Bergera, “Earliest Eternal Sealings,” 55; Revelation, 27 July 1842; Blessing to Sarah Ann Whitney, 23 Mar. 1843; Blessing to Joseph Kingsbury, 23 Mar. 1843.

    Bergera, Gary James. “The Earliest Eternal Sealings for Civilly Married Couples Living and Dead.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 35, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 41–66.

  18. [18]

    An Act Relative to Criminal Jurisprudence [26 Feb. 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, pp. 220–221, sec. 121. For more information on Illinois’s antibigamy statute, see Bradshaw, “Defining Adultery,” 424n57.

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

    Bradshaw, M. Scott. “Defining Adultery Under Illinois and Nauvoo Law.” In Sustaining the Law: Joseph Smith’s Legal Encounters, edited by Gordon A. Madsen, Jeffrey N. Walker, and John W. Welch, 401–426. Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2014.

  19. [19]

    Martin Luther, “The Estate of Marriage” [1522], in Brandt, Luther’s Works, 24.

    Brandt, Walther I., ed. and trans. Luther’s Works. Vol. 45, Christian in Society II. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1962.

  20. [20]

    Witte and Kingdon, Sex, Marriage, and Family, 223–224; Thompson, “Immoralities of the Patriarchs,” 9–46; see also Pearsall, Polygamy, 86–91.

    Witte, John, Jr., and Robert M. Kingdon, eds. Sex, Marriage, and Family in John Calvin’s Geneva. Vol. 1, Courtship, Engagement, and Marriage. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2005.

    Thompson, John L. “The Immoralities of the Patriarchs in the History of Exegesis: A Reappraisal of Calvin’s Position.” Calvin Theological Journal 26 (1991): 9–46.

    Pearsall, Sarah M. S. Polygamy: An Early American History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2019.

  21. [21]

    Cott, Public Vows, 22–23; Pearsall, Polygamy, 86–91.

    Cott, Nancy F. Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.

    Pearsall, Sarah M. S. Polygamy: An Early American History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2019.

  22. [22]

    JS’s scribe Willard Richards recorded cryptic shorthand references to plural sealings in JS’s journal, and his scribe William Clayton captured in his own journal private conversations on the subject with JS. Otherwise, individuals most often waited decades before writing their memories of JS’s private teachings on plural marriage. (See JS, Journal, 12 June 1843; Clayton, Journal, 13 and 26 July 1843; “Lucy W[alker] Kimball’s Testimony,” Historical Record, May 1887, 6:229–230; Johnson, “Life Review,” 90–93; and Almera Woodward Johnson Barton, Affidavit, Iron Co., Utah Territory, 1 Aug. 1883, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    The Historical Record, a Monthly Periodical, Devoted Exclusively to Historical, Biographical, Chronological and Statistical Matters. Salt Lake City. 1882–1890.

    Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. “A Life Review,” after 1893. Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289 box 1, fd. 1.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  23. [23]

    See, for example, Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, “Remarks,” Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 14 Apr. 1905, signed typescript, CHL; and “Lucy W[alker] Kimball’s Testimony,” Historical Record, May 1887, 6:229–230.

    Lightner, Mary Elizabeth Rollins. “Remarks,” Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 14 Apr. 1905. Signed typescript. CHL.

    The Historical Record, a Monthly Periodical, Devoted Exclusively to Historical, Biographical, Chronological and Statistical Matters. Salt Lake City. 1882–1890.

  24. [24]

    See Appendix: Letter to Nancy Rigdon, ca. Mid-Apr. 1842; Decker, Epistolary Practices, 25, 53; Letter to Newel K., Elizabeth Ann Smith, and Sarah Ann Whitney, 18 Aug. 1842; Emily Dow Partridge Young, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 19 Mar. 1892, p. 350, question 22, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894), typescript, United States Testimony, CHL; “Depositions on Polygamy,” Salt Lake Tribune, 20 Mar. 1892, [2]; and Vilate Murray Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, to Heber C. Kimball, Philadelphia, PA, 27 June 1843, Kimball Family Correspondence, CHL.

    Decker, William Merrill. Epistolary Practices: Letter Writing in America before Telecommunications. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

    Salt Lake Daily Tribune. Salt Lake City. 1871–.

    Kimball Family Correspondence, 1838–1871. CHL. MS 6241.

  25. [25]

    Revelation, 27 July 1842; Blessing to Sarah Ann Whitney, 23 Mar. 1843; Blessing to Joseph Kingsbury, 23 Mar. 1843. The purpose of this civil marriage is unknown; Kingsbury later noted that the marriage was “pretend” and that it was intended to bring about “the purposes of God.” (Kingsbury, Autobiography, 13.)

    Kingsbury, Joseph C. Autobiography, ca. 1848–1864. Ronald and Ilene Kingsbury Papers, 1832–1995. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

  26. [26]

    Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 10 June 1844, 25; see also Luke 20:35. Only days after dictating the revelation in July, JS gave a sermon that addressed Luke 20:35: “Those who keep no eternal Law in this life or make no eternal contract are single & alone in the eternal world . . . and are only made Angels to minister to those who shall be heirs of Salvation never becoming Sons of God having never kept the Law of God.” (Discourse, 16 July 1843.)

  27. [27]

    See Appendix: Letter to Nancy Rigdon, ca. Mid-Apr. 1842; Revelation, 27 July 1842; Blessing to Sarah Ann Whitney, 23 Mar. 1843; and Blessing to Joseph Kingsbury, 23 Mar. 1843.

  28. [28]

    These thirteen women were Ruth Vose Sayers (sealed February 1843), Emily Partridge (4 March 1843), Eliza Partridge (8 March 1843), Lucy Walker (1 May 1843), Elvira Cowles Holmes (1 June 1843), Rhoda Richards (12 June 1843), Desdemona Wadsworth Fullmer (July 1843), Flora Woodworth (spring 1843), Almera Woodward Johnson Prescott (April 1843), Helen Mar Kimball (May 1843), Maria Lawrence (May 1843), Sarah Lawrence (May 1843), and Olive Frost (summer 1843). (Ruth Vose Sayers, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869; Emily Dow Partridge Young, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869; Rhoda Richards, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869; Desdemona Wadsworth Fullmer Smith, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 17 June 1869; Lucy Walker Kimball, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 9 Aug. 1869; Elvira Cowles Holmes, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 28 Aug. 1869; Eliza Maria Partridge Lyman, Affidavit, Millard Co., Utah Territory, 1 July 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:9, 11, 17, 32, 66, 78; 2:32; Clayton, Journal, 1 May 1843; JS, Journal, 12 June 1843; Andrew Jenson, “Plural Marriage,” Historical Record, May 1887, 6:223, 225, 234; Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, “Travels beyond the Mississippi,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Nov. 1884, 13:87; Almera Woodward Johnson Burton, Affidavit, Iron Co., Utah Territory, 1 Aug. 1883, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL; Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Autobiography, 30 Mar. 1881, Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Papers, CHL; Mary Frost Pratt, Life Sketch of Olive Grey Frost, ca. May 1887, in “Miscellaneous,” Historical Record, May 1887, 6:234–235; see also Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 4–7; and Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 2:327, 331–337.)

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    The Historical Record, a Monthly Periodical, Devoted Exclusively to Historical, Biographical, Chronological and Statistical Matters. Salt Lake City. 1882–1890.

    Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.

    Whitney, Helen Mar Kimball. Papers, 1881–1882. CHL.

    Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001.

    Hales, Brian C. Joseph Smith’s Polygamy. 3 vols. SLC: Greg Kofford Books, 2013.

  29. [29]

    Young, Diary and Reminiscences, 1–3; Emily Dow Partridge Young, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 19 Mar. 1892, pp. 350–351, questions 21, 24, 31, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894), typescript, United States Testimony, CHL; Lucy Walker Kimball, “Brief Biographical Sketch,” 13; Benjamin F. Johnson, Mesa, Arizona Territory, to Joseph F. Smith, 9 Mar. 1904, in “More Testimony,” Deseret Evening News [Salt Lake City], 12 Apr. 1904, 4. Sarah was born on 13 May 1826, making her exact age unknown for a sealing in May 1843. (Temple Records Index Bureau, Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, 109.)

    Young, Emily Dow Partridge. Diary and Reminiscences, Feb. 1874–Nov. 1883. CHL. MS 22253.

    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

    Kimball, Lucy Walker. “A Brief Biographical Sketch of the Life & Labors of Lucy Walker Kimball Smith,” no date. CHL.

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

    Temple Records Index Bureau of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, 10 December 1845 to 8 February 1846. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1974.

  30. [30]

    Emily Dow Partridge Young, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 19 Mar. 1892, p. 366, question 350, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894), typescript, United States Testimony, CHL; see also Young, Diary and Reminiscences, 2.

    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

    Young, Emily Dow Partridge. Diary and Reminiscences, Feb. 1874–Nov. 1883. CHL. MS 22253.

  31. [31]

    Clayton, Journal, 23 June 1843. In this journal entry, Clayton used a symbol to represent Emma’s name. (See Clayton, Journal, 16 Aug. 1843; and inside back cover of the same journal.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  32. [32]

    See “Part 4: June–July 1843.”

  33. [33]

    William Clayton, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Madison Scott, 11 Nov. 1871, [1]–[2], copy; William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [3], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL. Clayton was prompted to talk about his experience partly because officials of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in the 1860s and 1870s, denied that JS had ever practiced plural marriage and insisted the practice began with Brigham Young.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  34. [34]

    See William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [3], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL; Brigham Young, Discourse, 8 Oct. 1866, 3–6, Church History Department, Publications Division, Pitman Shorthand Transcriptions, CHL, as transcribed by LaJean Purcell Carruth; JS, Journal, 26 and 29 May 1843; and Clayton, Journal, 26 May 1843. After accepting plural marriage in May, Hyrum was sealed to both his deceased first wife, Jerusha Barden Smith, and his second wife, Mary Fielding Smith, then living. (“Reminiscence of Mercy Rachel Fielding Thompson,” quoted in Madsen, In Their Own Words, 194–195; see also Mercy Fielding Thompson, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 19 June 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:34.)

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Church History Department, Publications Division. Pitman Shorthand Transcriptions, 2013–2020. CHL.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Madsen, Carol Cornwall. In Their Own Words: Women and the Story of Nauvoo. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994.

  35. [35]

    William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [3], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  36. [36]

    Clayton accepted plural marriage after receiving JS’s instruction in early 1843 “that the doctrine and principle was right in the sight of our Heavenly Father, and that it was a doctrine which pertained to Celestial order and glory.” On 27 April 1843, Clayton married a second wife, Margaret Moon, sister to his first wife, Ruth. (William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [2]–[3], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL; Clayton, Journal, 27 Apr. 1843.)

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  37. [37]

    William Clayton, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Madison Scott, 11 Nov. 1871, [2], copy; William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [4], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  38. [38]

    Clayton, Journal, 12 July 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  39. [39]

    See, for example, Mercy Fielding Thompson, [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], to Joseph Smith III, Lamoni, IA, ca. 5 Sept. 1883, copy, Joseph F. Smith, Papers, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Papers, 1854–1918. CHL. MS 1325.

  40. [40]

    Clayton, Journal, 12 July 1843. According to Clayton’s later affidavit, Hyrum alone went to Emma Smith, while “Joseph remained with me in the office until Hyrum returned.” (William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [4], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  41. [41]

    Clayton, Journal, 12 July 1843; see also William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [4], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL. According to William Law, Emma Smith, at an unknown time, complained to him about the revelation: “She said once: ‘The revelation says I must submit or be destroyed. Well, I guess I have to submit.’” (“Dr. Wyl and Dr. Wm. Law,” Salt Lake Daily Tribune, 31 July 1887, [6], italics in original.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Salt Lake Daily Tribune. Salt Lake City. 1871–.

  42. [42]

    William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [4], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  43. [43]

    William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [4], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL; see also Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 9 Aug. 1874, 17:159.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Journal of Discourses. 26 vols. Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855–1886.

  44. [44]

    [Elizabeth Ann Smith Whitney], “A Leaf from an Autobiography,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Dec. 1878, 7:105.

    Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.

  45. [45]

    In one account, William Clayton recalled that “the same night a copy was taken by Bishop Whitney, which copy is now here, and which I know and testify is correct.” In another document, Clayton stated that “towards evening Bishop Newel K. Whitney asked Joseph if he had any objections to his taking a copy of the revelation; Joseph replied that he had not, and handed it to him. It was carefully copied the following day by Joseph C. Kingsbury.” Kingsbury, who was not present when the original was recorded, assumed that it was “not more than one or two days after it was given that [he] copied it.” (William Clayton, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Madison Scott, 11 Nov. 1871, [2], copy; William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [4], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL; Joseph Kingsbury, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 17 Mar. 1892, p. 178, question 22, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. [C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894], typescript, United States Testimony, CHL; see also Joseph Kingsbury, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 22 May 1886, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.)

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

  46. [46]

    William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [4], copy; Joseph Kingsbury, Affidavit, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 22 May 1886, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL; Joseph Kingsbury, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 17 Mar. 1892, p. 178, question 19, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894), typescript, United States Testimony, CHL. Joseph Kingsbury married Sarah Ann Whitney in a civil union, though both parties were aware that Sarah Ann had previously married JS as a plural wife. (See Historical Introduction to Blessing to Joseph Kingsbury, 23 Mar. 1843.)

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

  47. [47]

    William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [4]–[5], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  48. [48]

    Discourse, 16 July 1843.

  49. [49]

    See William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [4], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  50. [50]

    See, for example, the JS Discourse found in Coray and Coray, Notebook, verso, [13 Aug. 1843], [30]–[35]; and Clayton, Journal, 15 Sept. 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  51. [51]

    Jane Silverthorn Law and William Law, Affidavits, Hancock Co., IL, 4 May 1844, in Nauvoo (IL) Expositor, 7 June 1844, [2]; David Fullmer, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 15 June 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:27; Thomas Grover, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 6 July 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:42; see also William Clayton, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 16 Feb. 1874, [4], copy, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.

    Nauvoo Expositor. Nauvoo, IL. 1844.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  52. [52]

    Mercy Fielding Thompson, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 18 Mar. 1892, p. 240, question 33; p. 250, questions 240, 244, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894), typescript, United States Testimony, CHL. Mercy and Hyrum Smith were married in August 1843. (Mercy Fielding Thompson, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 19 June 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:34.)

    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  53. [53]

    Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to Brigham Young, New York City, NY, between 23 and 28 Aug. 1843, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

  54. [54]

    Jacob Scott, Nauvoo, IL, to Mary Scott Warnock, Streetsville, Ontario, Canada, 5 Jan. 1844, CCLA, underlining in original. He continued the letter by apparently alluding to the July 1843 revelation featured here: “Other revelations intimately connected with this momentous dispensation and which are almost ready to unfold themselves to us, I cannot communicate to you at present.”

    Scott, Jacob. Letter, Nauvoo, IL to Mary Scott Warnock, Streetsville, Ontario, Canada, 5 Jan. 1844. CCLA. Photocopy at CHL.

  55. [55]

    See George A. Smith, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Joseph Smith III, 9 Oct. 1869, in Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 2, p. 892; “Sarah M. Kimball’s Testimony,” Historical Record, July 1887, 6:232; Austin Cowles, Affidavit, Hancock Co., IL, 4 May 1844, in Nauvoo (IL) Expositor, 7 June 1844, [2]; and Cox, Journal Entry, 12 Sept. 1890, typescript, CHL.

    The Historical Record, a Monthly Periodical, Devoted Exclusively to Historical, Biographical, Chronological and Statistical Matters. Salt Lake City. 1882–1890.

    Nauvoo Expositor. Nauvoo, IL. 1844.

    Cox, Cordelia Morley. Journal Entry, 12 Sept. 1890. CHL. MS 21091.

  56. [56]

    Bergera, “Identifying the Earliest Mormon Polygamists,” 52–74; Bergera, “Earliest Eternal Sealings,” 55.

    Bergera, Gary James. “Identifying the Earliest Mormon Polygamists, 1841–44.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 38, no. 3 (Fall 2005): 1–74.

    Bergera, Gary James. “The Earliest Eternal Sealings for Civilly Married Couples Living and Dead.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 35, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 41–66.

  57. [57]

    Willard Richards made a copy of the Kingsbury version, likely before leaving Nauvoo in 1846 but certainly before 1854, when he died. Horace Whitney also made two copies, both in 1847. With the Kingsbury copy as the source text, the revelation was first published in an extra to the Deseret News on 14 September 1852, following the public announcement of plural marriage by church leaders. Later editing for this later publication makes some of the original punctuation difficult to properly identify. The 12 July 1843 revelation was added to the Doctrine and Covenants as section 132 in 1876. (“Revelation Given to JS,” 12 July 1843, Willard Richards copy, Revelations Collection, CHL; Revelation, 12 July 1843, Horace Whitney copy, CHL; Revelation, 12 July 1843, Horace Whitney partial copy, CHL; Whitney, Journal, 14 Mar. 1847; “A Special Conference of the Elders of the Church,” Deseret News [Salt Lake City], Extra, 14 Sept. 1852, 14–15, 25–27; Doctrine and Covenants 132, 1876 ed. [D&C 132]; Woodford, “Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants,” 3:1741.)

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

    Revelation, 12 July 1843. Horace K. Whitney copy. CHL. MS 3497.

    Revelation, 12 July 1843. Horace K. Whitney partial copy. CHL. MS 7876.

    Whitney, Horace K. Journals , 1843, 1846–1847. CHL. MS 1616.

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

    The Doctrine and Covenants, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Containing the Revelations Given to Joseph Smith, Jun., the Prophet, for the Building Up of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Office, 1876.

    Woodford, Robert J. “The Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants.” 3 vols. PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1974.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Revelation, 12 July 1843 [D&C 132]
History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [1]

July 12th 1843
Verily thus Saith the Lord, unto you my Servent Joseph, that inasmuch as you have enquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I the Lord justified my Servents Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; as also Moses, David and Solomon my Servents as touching the principle and doctrin of their having many wives, and concubines. Behold, and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee as t[o]uching this matter Therefore prepare thy heart to receive and obay the instructions which I am about to give unto you, for all those, who have this law revealed unto them, must obey the Same, for behold, I reveal unto you a , 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; 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 was 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. And verily I Say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these, all covnants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connexions, associations or expectations that are not made and entered into and Sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise of him who is anointed both as well for time and for all eternity and that too most holy by Revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed whom I have appointed on the earth to hold the 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 of this is confered) are of no effect 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. Behold, mine house is a house of [p. [1]]
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Revelation, 12 July 1843 [D&C 132]
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  • Joseph Kingsbury

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The phrase new and everlasting covenant was initially used to describe the covenant made when a person was baptized into the church. Four days after JS dictated this revelation, he delivered a discourse drawing in part on the revelation. William Clayton’s notes on the discourse use the term “everlasting covenant” to describe an eternal relationship between a husband and wife. (Revelation, 16 Apr. 1830 [D&C 22:1]; “Highly Interesting from Jerusalem,” Times and Seasons, 1 June 1842, 3:805; Discourse, 16 July 1843.)

  2. [2]

    In March 1843, JS wrote a blessing to Sarah Ann Whitney, to whom he had been sealed, promising her “a diadem of glory in the Eternal worlds” if she were to “remain in the Everlasting covenant to the end.” (Blessing to Sarah Ann Whitney, 23 Mar. 1843; see also Revelation, 27 July 1842.)

  3. [3]

    In April 1843, JS instructed members of the church about “a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (Instruction, 2 Apr. 1843 [D&C 130:20–21]; see also John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4; and 1 Peter 1:20.)

  4. [4]

    In 1832, JS and Sidney Rigdon composed an account of their vision of three levels of heaven. The highest level, the “celestial” glory, was reserved for those who received “of his fulniss and of his glory.” (Vision, 16 Feb. 1832 [D&C 76:56, 70].)

  5. [5]

    When introducing plural marriage to women, JS apparently explained both the positive eternal consequences of entering into that practice and the negative consequences of rejecting it. For instance, Lucy Walker later recalled that after JS introduced the principle to her in 1842, her “astonishment knew no bounds.” JS asked Walker if she believed him to be a prophet and then explained that the principle “would prove an everlasting blessing to my father’s house. and form a chain that could never be broken, worlds without End.” After a time, Walker was still hesitant, and JS told her she had until the next day to accept or reject his offer. He warned her, “If you reject this message the gate will be closed forever against you.” The next morning, Walker recounted, she “received a powerful and irristable testimony of the truth of the mariage Covenant called ‘Celestial or plural mariage.’” Apostle Heber C. Kimball told his daughter Helen Mar Kimball that plural marriage to JS would ensure her “eternal salvation & exaltation and that of your fathers’ household & all of your kindred.” Helen recalled that “this promise was so great that I willingly gave myself to purchase so glorious a reward.” (Lucy Walker Kimball, “Brief Biographical Sketch,” 10–12; Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Autobiography, [1]–[2].)

    Kimball, Lucy Walker. “A Brief Biographical Sketch of the Life & Labors of Lucy Walker Kimball Smith,” no date. CHL.

    Whitney, Helen Mar Kimball. Autobiography, 30 March 1881. Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Papers, 1881–1882. CHL. MS 744.

  6. [6]

    As recorded in Ephesians 1:13, the apostle Paul taught that after hearing the gospel, believers would be “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” JS’s early revelations used this phrase to describe those who had obtained an eternal reward. A January 1841 revelation explained that the Holy Spirit of Promise was connected to “the sealing blessings.” In mid-1843, JS began teaching that in order for covenants, particularly marriage covenants, to persist beyond death, they needed to be made “by the power and authority of the Holy priesthood” and to “be made in view of Eternity.” The 12 July 1843 revelation featured here indicated that the “Holy Spirit of promise” was the agent that sealed covenants for eternity. (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:124]; Instruction, 16 May 1843; Discourse, 16 July 1843; see also Vision, 16 Feb. 1832 [D&C 76:53]; and Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:3].)

  7. [7]

    Less than a month before this revelation was dictated, Hyrum Smith sealed Parley P. Pratt to his wife, Mary Ann Frost Pratt, without authorization from JS. Upon finding out about this sealing, JS criticized Hyrum and reaffirmed his sole authority to perform or to grant authority to others to perform such sealings. Following the dictation of this revelation and with JS’s approval, Hyrum Smith sealed Pratt to his deceased first wife, Thankful Halsey Pratt; his second wife, Mary Ann; and a third wife, Elizabeth Brotherton. Since 1832, JS had dictated revelations that identified himself as the person holding the “keys of the Kingdom.” (Givens and Grow, Parley P. Pratt, 204–205; Mary Ann Frost Pratt, Life Sketch of Olive Frost, ca. May 1887, in “Miscellaneous,” Historical Record, May 1887, 6:234–235; Revelation, 15 Mar. 1832 [D&C 81:2].)

    Givens, Terryl L., and Matthew J. Grow. Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

    The Historical Record, a Monthly Periodical, Devoted Exclusively to Historical, Biographical, Chronological and Statistical Matters. Salt Lake City. 1882–1890.

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    JS sometimes connected the resurrection of the dead with relationships in the eternities. In March 1843, for instance, JS sealed Joseph Kingsbury to his deceased wife, Caroline Whitney Kingsbury, and stated that the couple would “come forth in the first Reserection unto Eternal lives.” (Blessing to Joseph Kingsbury, 23 Mar. 1843.)

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