Show biography of brigham young and history of the mormon church by M R WERNER reprinted by permission from the ladies home journal continued from last weeke when joseph smith first began to discuss polygamy with his alg followers brigham young and the othor other eleven apostles were in england As soon as they returned they were taught the new doctrine in order to reen re enforce torce his argument argumenti meni the prophet told them and they earnestly believed him that he had delayed practising practicing polygamy as long as possible until finally an angel of god carrying a drawn word sword appeared to him and threatened angrily that unless ho he moved forward and established plural marriage his priesthood would be taken from him and he should be destroyed polygamy shocked all the mormon elders at first it if we can believe certain testimony but as soon as they began the actual practice of its privileges they seemed satis satisfied fled of its divine origin their puritan worship ot of chastity caused them to be revolted of the idea of polygamy but that barrier was easily overcome by quotations from the lives of abraham asne jacob david and solomon and before long the mormon elders were willing to experiment with the system themselves As soon as they aad experimented with it themselves it took all the legal power of 0 the united states government to persuade these elders who had reluctantly entered upon ita practice as part ot of their duty that polygamy was illegal even it it were divine some women were more incredulous and suspicious ot of the doctrine than others and they were accordingly more difficult to convert there was for or instance the case of 0 sixteen year old lucy walker whose conversion to polygamy is a unique example ot of the prophets with women A letter from her which was published in the reminiscences ot of latter day saints by lyman omer littlefield reads in part in the year 1842 president joseph smith sought an interview with me and said 1 I have a message tor for you I 1 have been commanded ot of god to take another wife and you are the woman my aly astonishment knew no bounds this announcement no was indeed a thunderbolt to me he asked me it if I 1 believed him to be a prophet ot of god most assuredly I 1 do I 1 replied he fully explained to me the principle 0 of plural or celestial marriage said this principle was again to be restored for the benefit ot of the human buman family that it would prove an everlasting blessing to my fathers house and term form a chain that could never be broken worlds without end I 1 what have you to say he asked no N 0 thin t h 1 n g HOW alow could I 1 speak or what could I 1 say lie he said it if you will pray Ine for liht light and understanding der standing in relation thereto you shall receive a testimony of the correctness of this principle I 1 lucy walker gets the ho testimony lucy walker prayed but her soul was in anguish and there was nothing but darkness no mother to counsel no father near to tell me what to do in this trying hour the prophet visited her again and assured her that polygamy was the will of god 1 I will give you until tomorrow he added to decide this matter I 1 you reject his mes sage the gate will be closed forever against you this wrote lucy walker aroused every drop of scotch in my veins I 1 had been speechless but at last found utterance and said although you are a prophet of god you could not induce me to take a step ot of so great importance unless I 1 knew that god approved my course I 1 would rather die I 1 have tried to pray but received no comfort no light and emphatically forbid him speaking again to me on this subject every feeling 0 of my soul revolted against it said 1 I the same god who has sent this message Is the being I 1 have worshiped from my early childhood and ile he must manifest his will to me ile he walked across the room returned and stood before mo me with the most beautiful expression of 0 countenance and said god almighty bless you you shall have a manifestation of the will ot of god concerning you a testimony that you can never deny I 1 will tell you what it shall be it shall bo be that joy and peace that you never knew then lucy walker prayed tor for the fulfillment of this prophecy and spent the ensuing nights in sleepless anguish ot of what then happened she wrote it was wag near dawn after another sleepless night when my room was lighted up by a heavenly influence to me it was in comparison like the brilliant sun bursting through the darkest cloud the words of 0 the prophet were indeed fulfilled my soul was filled with a calm sweet peace that 1 I never knew supreme happiness took possession of me and I 1 received a powerful and irre elsable testimony of the truth 0 of plural marriage which has been like an anchor to the soul through all the trials of life I 1 felt that I 1 must go out late into the morning air and give vent to the joy and gratitude that filled my soul As I 1 descended the stairs president smith opened the door below took mo me by the hand and said thank god you have the testimony I 1 too have prayed ile he led me to a chair placed his hands upon my lay head and blessed me with every blessing my heart co could uld possibly desire ides lre the first day ot of may 1843 1 I consented to become the prophets prophete 3 wife and was sealed to him tor for time and all eternity at his own house by eide elder r wm win clayton lucy walker was married the day after her seventeenth birthday in I 1 that month ot of may alay 1843 the et added tour four wives to the nine he already had and all ot of the tour four were less than twenty years ot of age aga lucy walkers conversion to plural mariage by means ol of heavenly brilliance and the conviction that it was the will of 0 god was not unusual joseph smiths career furnishes other examples ot of the same process and psychologists are familiar a with it lucy walker knew what to ernect from god tor for joseph smith had told her how her dark cloud ot of doubt would be dispelled by the light of 0 inner joy and peace it required to co convert her only a I 1 few sleepless nights and the desire perhaps subconscious to be one ot of the wives of 0 the prophet whose beautiful expression ot of countenance she had noted even in the anguish ot of her di brigham young once gave this picture ot of the reluctant sealing g in marriage to the prophet of his own sister I 1 recollect a sister conversing with joseph smith on this subject now dont talk to me when I 1 get into tho the celestial kingdom it if I 1 ever do get there I 1 shall request tho the privilege of 0 being a ministering angel that is the labor that I 1 wish to perform I 1 dont want and companion in that world and it if the lord will make me a ministering angel it is all I 1 want joseph said sister you talk very foolishly you do not know what you will want he then said to me here brother brigham you seal this lady to me I 1 sealed her to him this was my own sister according to the flesh now sisters do not say 1 I do not want a husband when I 1 get up in the resurrection you do not know what you will want I 1 tell this so that you can get the idea it in the resurrection you really want to be single and alono alon and live so BO forever and ever and be made servants while others receive the highest order ot of intelligence and are bringing worlds into existence you can have the privilege they who will be exalted cannot perform all the labor they must have servants and you can be servants to them from journal ot of discourses vol XVI pp ap A handsome prophet either joseph smith and brigham young were quite arbitrary in their sealing activities or the lady did not protest enough it was however rather easy on the tor for the prophet to persuade pious young women to become his concubines for he had conveniently made human love a divine institution in himself he combined both the appeals of sex and religion for he was a six foot handsome prophet ot of god it was only those women vho aho happened to maintain control of their emotions by their reason who resisted at all after the prophets death brigham young once said that josephs time on earth was short and that the lord allowed him privileges that we could not have during his lifetime according to a mormon estimate the prophet married twenty eight woi women the historical record which was a carefully compiled official publication ot of the church gathered together the names 0 of the known wives of joseph smith and published them in the issue of may 1837 1887 with this notation summoning up the information received from efrom the parties already mentioned and from other sources we find that the following named ladles ladies besides a few others about whom we have been unable to get all the necessary information were sealed to prophet joseph smith during the last three years of his life even the mormons cormons have been unable to compile a list ot of all their prophets wives but these are the names ot of twenty eight of them as nearly as possible in chronological order emma hale smith louisa beman eman fanny alger lucinda harris zina D huntington prescinda IL huntington eliza roxey snow sarah ann whitney desdemona W fullmor fullmer helen mar afar kimball emily D partridge ellza eliza al partridge lucy walker almera IV johnson malissa lott fanny young maria lawrence sarah lawrence sarah 31 cleveland rannah hannah ells flora ann woodworth north ruth D vose mary elizabeth rollins olive frost rnoda richards sylvia sessions session 8 maria winchester elvira A cowl ea continued |