Marriage: “An Eternal Covenant ”

Marriage: “An Eternal Covenant” On 16th May 1843 the Prophet Joseph Smith, in company with William Clayton and four others, left Nauvoo for Ramus, Illinois, some twenty-two miles to the southeast. The same evening found Joseph Smith and William Clayton in the home of Benjamin F. Johnson, where before retiring the Prophet gave some instructions on the priesthood to Brother and Sister Johnson. During that evening he turned to William Clayton, placed his hand upon his knee, and said, “Your life is hid with Christ in God, and so are many others.

Nothing but the unpardonable sin can prevent you from inheriting eternal life for you are sealed up by the power of the Priesthood unto eternal life, having taken the step necessary for that purpose” (HC, 5:391). After making other personal observations, the Prophet gave Brother Clayton the message found in Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4. The next morning, 17 May 1843, the Prophet Joseph Smith discoursed upon 2 Peter 1 showing that the more knowledge a person has, the more power he has. Verses 5 & 6 were given that morning in their meeting (HC 5:392). Four days later, in the Nauvoo Temple, the Prophet again spoke on the power of knowledge and the doctrine of making one’s calling and election sure.

At Adam-ondi-Ahman, 20-year-old Benjamin F. Johnson was spared a similar fate at the hands of a Missourian who was determined to shoot him. Benjamin had been arrested and kept under guard for eight days in intensely cold weather before an open campfire. While he was sitting on a log, a “brute” came up to him with a rifle in his hands and said, “You give up Mormonism right now, or I’ll shoot you.” Benjamin decisively refused, upon which the ruffian took deliberate aim at him and pulled the trigger. The gun failed to discharge. Cursing fearfully, the man declared that he had “used the gun 20 years and it had never before missed fire.” Examining the lock, he re-primed the weapon and again aimed and pulled the trigger --- without effect.

Following the same procedure he tried a third time, but the result was the same. A bystander told him to “fix up his gun a little” and then “you can kill the cuss all right.” So for a fourth and final time the would-be murderer prepared, even putting in a fresh load. However, Benjamin declared, “This time the gun busted and killed the wretch upon the spot.” One of the Missourians was heard to say, “You’d better not try to kill that man.”

D&C 131:5 “The More Sure Word of Prophesy” For a man to receive the other Comforter is to have Christ appear to him and to see the visions of eternity.

On the evening of the 17th of May the Prophet went to hear a Methodist preacher lecture. The Prophet afterwards offered some corrections to what had been said. Some of the corrections have been included in D&C 131: 7-8. 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; that is, they will not have any children after 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. All other sins will be visited with judgment in the flesh, and the spirit being delivered to the buffetings of Satan until the day of the Lord Jesus.

“The way I know in whom to confide --- God tells me in whom I may place confidence” (HC5:391-92).

The Prophet was studying the lives of the patriarchs in the Old Testament, in the course of the Bible revision that lead to this section (D&C 132). At one time Joseph Smith said, “Would to God I could tell you what I know! But you would call it blasphemy, and there are men upon this stand who would want to take my life!” William and Wilson Law and others who were present when Joseph made that statement did seek his life just two years later because of the doctrines revealed in D&C 132 (Life of Heber C. Kimball, 1967, 322).

“Marriage: An Eternal Covenant” D&C 132 D&C 132:1 As touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines: As relates to the ancient patriarchs, a concubine was a legal and lawful plural wife of a lower social order than the primary wives.

D&C 131:2 “This Order of the Priesthood” Joseph explained that there are “three grand orders of priesthood” (not three priesthoods --- but three orders of the priesthood); they are the Levitical order, the Melchizedek order, and the Patriarchal order as spoken of in this verse (Teachings, 322). “All priesthood,” he said, “is Melchizedek” (Teachings, 180).

As to what is involved in the patriarchal order of the priesthood, Elder Bruce R. McConkie observed, “Joseph Smith says that in the temple of God there is an order of priesthood that is patriarchal. ‘Go to the temple,’ he says, ‘and find out about this order.’ So I went to the temple, and I took my wife with me, and we kneeled at the altar. There on that occasion we entered, the two of us, into an ‘order of the priesthood,’ When we did it, we had sealed upon us, on a conditional basis, every blessing that God promised Father Abraham --- the blessings of exaltation and eternal increase. The name of that order of priesthood, which is patriarchal in nature, because Abraham was a natural patriarch to his posterity, is the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage” (“Eternal Family,” 7). Marriage in the temple of the Lord for time and for eternity is ‘a’ new and everlasting covenant” (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:156).

The decisions to live this law was not easy to make. Joseph Smith was a righteous man, and it was difficult for him to overcome his own feelings as well as the marriage customs of his day in order to keep the commandments. “He knew the voice of God --- he knew the commandment of the Almighty to him was to go forward --- to set the example, and establish Celestial plural marriage. He knew that he had not only his own prejudices and prepossessions to combat and to overcome, but those of the whole Christian world stared at him in the face; but God, who is above all, had given the commandment, and He must be obeyed. Yet the Prophet hesitated and deferred from time to time, until an angel of God stood by him with a drawn sword, and told him that, unless he moved forward and established plural marriage, his Priesthood would be taken from him and he should be destroyed! This testimony (Joseph) not only bore to my brother, but also to others --- a testimony that cannot be (denied)” (Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family record of Lorenzo Snow, 1884, 69-70).

“Brigham Young said in a discourse delivered at Provo on July 14, 1855, that ‘if any man had asked me what was my choice when Joseph Smith revealed that doctrine (plurality of wives), provided that it would not diminish my glory, I would have said, “Let me have but one wife.” …I was not desirous of shrinking from any duty, nor of failing in the least to do as I was commanded, but it was the first time in my life that I had desired the grave, and I could hardly get over it for a long time.’”

President Heber J. Grant said, “No individual was permitted to take a plural wife without the written recommendation of the Bishop of the ward in which he resided, vouching for his character. Not only that, the President of the Stake had to vouch for his character as well. And before he could go into the temple to marry a plural wife the President of the Church had to give him a recommend” (C.R. 1930, 185).

polygamy more than one spouse at a time polygyny more than one wife at a time polyandry more than one husband at a time It is best called “plural marriage.”

“History of Plural Marriage” Revealed in 1831 Joseph lived it in 1841 and possibly before that time Joseph revealed it in 1843 (Section 132) Implemented in 1852 Abandoned in 1890

3 Case Studies D&C 132:15-19 “3 types of Marriage” • v. 15-16 Civil marriage • v. 18 Civil marriage with eternal vows given, but no authority to do so • v. 19 The New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage The Lamb’s Book of Life = Church of the Firstborn Eternal life!

One tragic possibility of marriage outside the temple was told by President Spencer W. Kimball; “I remember an article in a local newspaper, telling of a young couple married in Salt Lake by a man who had only civil authority --- no power beyond the grave. They had a brilliant wedding breakfast. They got into the car to travel to another city for an evening wedding reception, where hundreds of friends and relatives would come to wish them well. They did not reach their destination. There was no reception. A car accident took their lives. Their mortality was ended and eternal life had not been provided for. About three hours of marriage, and the end of it came like a flash of lightning. And the sad thing was that their three-hour marriage was performed within a mile of the holy Temple, where a man with the sealing power would gladly have saved them from their bitter cup” (Marriage is Honorable,” in Speeches of the Year, 1973, Provo, 1974, 271).

“Temple Worthiness” “Being in charge of the Endowment House, while the Temple was in process of construction, Heber C. Kimball met with a group who were planning to enter the temple for ordinance work. He felt impressed that some were not worthy to go into the temple, and he suggested first that if any present were not worthy, they might retire. No one responding, he said that there were some present who should not proceed through the temple because of unworthiness and he wished they would leave so the company could proceed. It was quiet as death and no one moved nor responded. A third time he spoke, saying that there were two people present who were in adultery, and if they did not leave he would call out their names. Two people walked out and the company continued on through the temple” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, 1969, 112).

How Important is it to be Married by Proper Authority Now? Elder James E. Faust wrote that “in the resurrection there will be no marrying nor giving in marriage; for all questions of marital status must be settled before that time, under the authority of the Holy Priesthood, which holds the power to seal in marriage for both time and eternity” (Jesus the Christ, 548).

Doctrine & Covenants 132:29-33 Man may become like God President Lorenzo Snow once said, “As man now is, God once was; “As God now is, man may be” (Leroy C. Snow, “Devotion to a Divine Inspiration,” Improvement Era, June 1919, 661).

“Only a short time before his death, President Lorenzo Snow visited BYU in Provo. President Brimhall escorted the party through one of the buildings; he wanted to reach the assembly room as soon as possible, as the students had already gathered. They were going through one of the kindergarten rooms; President Brimhall had reached the door and was about to open it and go on when President Snow said: ‘Wait a moment, President Brimhall, I want to see these children at work; what are they doing? Brother Brimhall replied that they were making clay spheres. ‘That is very interesting,’ the President said. ‘I want to watch them.’ He quietly watched the children for several minutes and then lifted a little girl, perhaps six years of age, and stood her on a table. He then took the clay sphere from her hand, and, turning to Brother Brimhall, said:

“’President Brimhall, these children are now at play, making mud worlds, the time will come when some of these (children), through their faithfulness to the gospel, will progress and develop in knowledge, intelligence and power, in future eternities, until they shall be able to go out into space where there is unorganized matter and call together the necessary elements, and through their knowledge of and control over the laws and powers of nature, to organize matter into worlds on which their posterity may dwell, and over which they shall rule as gods’” (Snow, “Devotion to a Divine Inspiration,” 658-59).

It was a heavenly mandate to rise up to our full potential and become like God our Father. C.S. Lewis, an articulate advocate of this simple but glorious truth, wrote: “The command ‘Be ye perfect’ is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words….The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what he said….Those who put themselves in His hands will become perfect, as He is perfect---perfect in love, wisdom, joy, beauty, and immortality” (Lewis, Mere Christianity, 176-77).

It was C.S. Lewis who again reaffirmed this divine proposition: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which…you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization---these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit---immortal horrors or everlasting splendors” (Lewis, Joyful Christian, 197).

Before President Snow was a member of the Church, Joseph Smith Sr., then patriarch of the Church, prophesied that Lorenzo would be baptized, and the added this postscript, “You will become as great as you can possibly wish---even as great as God, and you cannot wish to be greater” (Snow, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow, 10). Two weeks later Lorenzo was baptized, but the rest of the promise remained a “dark parable” to him until four years later when a burst of revelation came upon him, enlightening his mind on the subject. He tells of his extraordinary experience:

“The Spirit of the Lord rested mightily upon me---the eyes of my understanding were opened, and I saw as clear as the sun at noonday, with wonder and astonishment, the pathway of God and man. I formed the following couplet with expresses the revelation, as it was shown me, and explains Father Smith’s dark saying to me at a blessing meeting in the Kirtland Temple, prior to my baptism, as previously mentioned in my first interview with the Patriarch. As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be. Snow, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow, 10.

Lorenzo Snow wrote the following poem: Dear Brother: Hast thou not been unwisely bold, Man’s destiny to thus unfold? To raise, promote such high desire, Such vast ambition thus inspire? Still, ‘tis no phantom that we trace Man’s ultimatum in life’s race; This royal path has long been trod By righteous men, each now a God: As Abra’m, Isaac, Jacob too, First babes, then men---to gods they grew. As man now is, our God once was; As now God is, so man may be,---

The boy, like to is father grown, Has but attained unto his own; To grow to sire from state of son, Is not ‘gainst Nature’s course to run. A son of God, like God to be, Would not be robbing Deity; And he who has this hope within, Will purify himself from sin. Snow, Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, 8-9.

The Gospel of Philip, one of the Nag Hammadi discoveries, makes this simple statement of logic: “A horse sires a horse, a man begets a man, a god brings forth a god” (“Gospel of Philip,” 145). That is exactly what John Taylor taught: “As the horse, the ox, the sheep, and every living creature, including man, propagates its own species and perpetuates its own kind, so does God perpetuate His” (Taylor, Mediation and Atonement, 165).

C.S. Lewis exposed the one obstacle to “absolute perfection” and godhood---ourselves. He teaches the principle by way of a childhood experience. He recalls his repeated toothaches and his desire for relief---but likewise the nagging fear that if he disclosed his pain, his mother would take him to the dentist. He said, “I knew those dentists; I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache….{I}f you gave them an inch, they took an ell.” Then he made this comparison: “Our Lord is like the dentists….Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of….Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if you once call him in, He will give you the full treatment. “…’Make no mistake,’ He says, ‘if you let Me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for.

Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, not let you rest, until you are literally perfect---until my Father can say without reservation that He is well please with you, as He said he was well pleased with Me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.’ “…You must realize from the outset that the goal toward which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe, except you yourself, can prevent Him from taking you to that goal. That is what you are in for. And it is very important to realize that” (Lewis, Joyful Christian, 77-78).

If we are not destined for godhood, the critic must answer, “Why not?” Perhaps we could suggest three answers for the critic’s consideration. Maybe man cannot become like God because God does not have the power to create celestial offspring. It is beyond his present level of comprehension and intelligence. “Blasphemous,” responds the critic. “He has all knowledge and all power.” Perhaps God does not create such a diving offspring because he does not love us. “Ridiculous,” the critic replies. “’For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son’’ (John 3:16). Well, perhaps God has not planted within us the divine spark because he wants to retain godhood for himself; he is threatened by our progress; he can retain his superiority only by asserting man’s inferiority. “No, no, insists the critic. “Have you ever known a loving, kindly father who did not want his children to become all that he is and more?” (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 246).

Joseph taught: “You have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves,…the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you…are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power” (Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 346-47).

132:34 “Because this was the law” A variety of ancient texts indicate that it was an accepted practice for a man to have a second wife if his first wife could not give him children. Thus, the command of the Lord to Abraham and Sarah was in accordance with the custom or law of the day. For instance, in the Laws of Hammurabi (1792 to 1750 B.C.), king of Old Babylon, we read, “If a man marries a naditu, and she does not provide him with children, and that man than decides to marry a sugitu, that man may marry the sugitu and bring her to his house: that sugitu should not aspire to equal status with the naditu” (Roth, Law Collections, 109).

Contrary to the impression given in Genesis 16:2-3 that Sarah instructed her husband of her own accord, the Lord commanded Abraham to take Hagar to wife after instructing Sarah. She consented out of reverence for the law of the Lord and loyalty and obedience to God and his priesthood representative. 132:38 “Concubines” As Isaac also. The Old Testament, as we presently have it, makes no reference to Isaac having taken any wives but Rebekah (Genesis 25:20). This text seems to suggest that he, like his father Abraham and his son Jacob. Also took plural wives (Moses also, Numbers 12:1).

132:65 “He is exempt from the law of Sarah” Those who follow the commandments of the Lord and keep their covenants will be blessed; those who refuse to do so will not share those blessings. A woman can still lay claim to the blessings of the sealing power given to her in the temple even if her husband chooses to pursue a path that leaves him unworthy of them. Similarly, if a man or woman dies in this life but was worthy to do so, that privilege and blessing will be granted to that person in the world to come (Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, 138).

Joseph’s Calling and Election Made Sure! D&C 132:49 Verse 50 seems to be the key as to how he achieved it. In the spring of 1839, while the Prophet Joseph and his associates were languishing in Liberty Jail, Heber C. Kimball, our president’s grandfather, labored against great odds caring for the Saints and striving to free the brethren who were in jail. On the sixth of April he wrote:

“My family having been gone about two months, during which time I heard nothing from them; our brethren being in prison; death and destruction following us everywhere else we went; I felt very sorrowful and lonely. The following words came to mind, and the Spirit said unto me, ‘write,” which I did by taking a piece of paper and writing on my knee as follows:… “Verily I say unto my servant Heber, thou art my son, in whom I am well pleased; for thou art careful to hearken to my words, and not transgress my law, nor rebel against my servant Joseph Smith, for thou hast a respect to the words of mine anointed, even from the least to the greatest of them; therefore” --- listen to this --- “thy name is written in heaven, no more to be blotted out for ever” (Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, Bookcraft, 1975, 241).

The “More Sure Word of Prophecy” “After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands…then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 150).

Joseph Tested the Brethren With Plural Marriage! On July 12, 1843 the Savior gave the revelation on “Celestial Marriage” which included Plural Marriage. Joseph tested Brigham Young relative to his two wives. Miriam was Brigham’s first wife but had died. Brigham later married Mary Ann Angel. Joseph said to Brigham, “Brigham, which wife do you want for the eternities?” This put Brigham into a dilemma. Before Brigham could answer he taught him about Plural Marriage which put Brigham Young into a greater dilemma.

Joseph called Heber C. Kimball in to his office and said, “Heber the Lord has revealed to me that in the worlds to come your lovely wife Vilate is to be my wife. Go home and bring her back and I will have her sealed to me. That is all I wanted to talk to you about, goodbye.” Heber loved his wife and went through turmoil for the next three weeks. He said in his own account that the heavens were as black as a piece of coal. Finally Heber came to the conclusion that what the Prophet was asking him to do was wrong, Vilate should be his and not Joseph’s. However, Joseph was the Prophet and he must obey him. Only one of the greatest men in the world could do such a thing.

Heber took Vilate to the Prophet and when Joseph opened the door Heber said, “ I have come as you have requested.” Joseph began to sob and said, “Your test was a great as Abraham’s.” He then sealed Heber and Vilate for time and all eternity. Joseph sent Vilate home and then he lowered the second bombshell on Heber. Heber was called to live Plural Marriage. Heber said, “Oh no, don’t ask, I don’t think I can live it righteously.” Joseph taught Heber that before God would let him fall from the work he would take him in death. That can only mean one thing. Heber had made it.

Even though Heber and Vilate had visions, including that Vilate saw the glory that would be hers in eternity, they still struggled with it. Heber later wrote that Plural Marriage had caused him to shed buckets of tears. I imagine the wives of plural marriage could say the same thing. It was tough any way you look at it.

Remember, we are not talking about lustful men, but those who loved God and were asked to live the law. It was estimated that fifty percent of the women who entered the Salt Lake Valley had no husband or father when they arrived. Orson Hyde was excited about eternal marriage and wanted to be sealed to Marinda. His test was different than Heber’s. The Prophet informed Orson that Marinda had already been sealed to him.

Apostates said that Joseph combined Church and State and over-stepped his bounds. Apostates taught that Joseph was bringing foreign girls to America to submit their will to God and to the brethren for their own gratification. That rumor was prevalent in England for many years. There were riots in the early 1900’s in England saying that the church was converting 16-17 year old girls and then bringing them to America to satisfy the lusts of wicked apostles and prophets.

Marriage: “An Eternal Covenant ”