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Letter of Willard Richards to Brigham Young
Sunday 16 Joseph preached all day.--a.m. 27th
Matthew & c.--did not hear him.--"Mans foes they of his own house.--the Spirit that crucified
Christ, same spirit in Nauvoo. referred particularly to--I wont say who--was it Bro. Marks?--
did not Say.--bro Cole [Cowles]? or bro |
preached all day. or A.M. & P.M. at the Stand, in the grove, near & west of the temple concerning a mans foes being they of his own house. Such as having secret enemies in the city--intermingling with the saints &c.-- |
16 July AM at Temple stand heard Pres. Joseph Smith read the 27th Chapt. Math. spoke
of the persecution of the innocent the guilty might |
Joseph Pr[eached]--all day--constituted Hyrum prophet |
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Joseph said July 16th All Blessings that were ordained for man by the Council of Heaven were on conditions of obedience to the Law there of 2. 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. Case of the woman & 7 husbands Luke 20-29 &c Those who keep no eternal Law in this life or make no eternal contract are single & alone in the eternal world (Luke 20-35) 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 ie eternal Law The earthly is the image of the Heavenly shows that is by the multiplication of Lives that the eternal worlds are created and occupied that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.3 |
P.M. went to the Grove and heard Pres. J. preach on the law of the priesthood. He stated that Hyrum held the office of prophet to the church by birth-right & he was going to have a reformation and the saints must regard Hyrum for he had authority. He 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. He said that he could not reveal the fulness of these things untill the Temple is completed &c. | P.M. spoke of contracts & covenants made from life end with life. the necessity of the Temple that the Servants of God may be sealed in their foreheads.--the 4 Angels not permitted to destroy the earth till it was done--weather warm & dry-- | Said he would not prophecy any more.--Hyrum should be the prophet-- (did not tell them he was going to be a priest now, nor a King by and by)-- told the elders not to prophecy when they went out preaching-- |
Proposing Hyrum as a prophet--that he might be (a priest)-- so the hearers tell the story. |
1. Marks was president of the Nauvoo stake, Cowles was his counselor. They both opposed the then secret practice of plural marriage by Joseph Smith and others. Marks helped in uncovering wives under the pretext of stamping out remnants of John C. Bennett's spiritual wifery, feigning ignorance of Joseph Smith's private teaching. P.P.P. was Parley Pratt. Pratt was also in opposition to the practice, but a short time before this sermon he and his wife had become converted to it, hence(?) the initials were crossed out.
2. The language used in this sermon suggests that the content of D&C 132 was known to Joseph Smith at this time. The remarks here may also be regarded as an interpretation of D&C 130:20-21 - see 2Apr43 and 9Oct43.
3. The doctrine of procreation after the resurrection and the associated doctrine that mankind are the "spirit" children of God, was not publicly taught by Joseph Smith except perhaps on rare occasions such as the oblique reference here. Franklin D. Richards confirms in his diary that marriage for eternity was indeed taught on this day. That the notion of resurrected exalted beings parenting "spirit" children was taught in private may be reflected in the teaching of the apostles after Joseph's death. It was a natural extention of Biblical language, earlier Mormon revelations and the doctrine of deification. But there seems to be little evidence for the idea that Joseph taught some kind of literal viviparous birth process among the exalted. Such notions appear to be speculative extrapolations of later years. Indeed the King Follett sermon may suggest that Joseph had something rather different in mind. The obvious reason for a reluctance to publicly teach on these matters was the connection to the doctrine of plural marriage, especially in its Nauvoo practice..