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No Man Knows My History - Fawn
Brodie
(Summary of Book)
A biography about Joseph Smith.
Was Joseph Smith a person who could no longer distinguish reality from dream? Ms. Brodie
presents the history of a man who has been an enigma, perhaps only because his past history has
never fully been disclosed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons.
The book is written by Fawn M. Brodie and is the biography of Joseph Smith. She has done
a
great deal of research and has her work well documented. Her
book takes the title from Joseph Smith's own words speaking to an audience of 10,000 in Nauvoo
on April 7, 1844 --
"You don't know me; you never knew my heart. No man knows my history. I cannot tell it; I
shall never undertake it. I don't blame anyone for not believing my history. If I had not
experienced what I have, I could not have believed it myself"
Ms. Brodie gives credit where credit is due; but at the same time gives no special sympathy
to the
fact Joseph Smith was the Mormon prophet and founder of the LDS church. She tells it "as it is."
Joseph was never much interested in religion at the beginning. He hated farm work. His
family
was not rich. His mind was "very imaginative" and inventive. When it came to telling a story,
he enjoyed the reaction from others. People were compelled to listen. He was bright, although he
never finished school. He was reasonably attractive, except for his large nose.... his six foot and
muscular build along with his compelling blue eyes made him a natural leader with a strong
charismatic personality. Capturing a crowd and telling a story fed his enthusiasm for life.
He was raised in the period where preachers and new churches blossomed. It was a revivalist
era. He was also very fascinated with mysticism and magic. During his early years he took to
using divining sticks and "seeing stones" to find hidden treasures in the earth. He often hired out
to farmers who wished to find gold or wealth on their lands.
Eventually, this ended when he was brought into court and accused of fakery and deception.
His
magic arts only got him in trouble. "His reputation before he organized his church was not that
of an adolescent mystic brooding over visions, but of a likable ne'er-do-well who was notorious
for tall tales and necromantic arts and who spent his leisure leading a band of idlers in digging
for buried treasure."
Despite his giving up "money-digging," he retained his peep stone and some of his other
psychological artifacts.
Joseph fell in love with Emma who was a very beautiful daughter of Isaac Hale. Isaac hated
the
thought of his daughter marrying Joe. Isaac Hale thought of Joe as a "money digger and deceiver
of people." Two years or so later, Joe and Emma's love could not be destroyed... they finally
married in secret. Joseph had promised Isaac that he would be a good provider for Emma. Even
years after their marriage and Joe had established his church, Emma's father never changed his
negative views, doubts, and distrust for Joseph.
Joseph had an interest in the burial mounds in that area. Much had been said and speculated
about the mounds of human bones left on the Eastern landscape. Too, in the family, there was
much made of a relative who published a small book. It really wasn't much, but it gave the
family great pride. Perhaps this was what triggered Joe's interest in the writing of a book.
Brodie speculates that Joseph Smith had interest in writing a history book explaining the
mound
building. But eventually she believes the effort evolved into a religious work. Brodie gives a
great deal of credit to the organizational structure of the Book of Mormon. There is little doubt
that it wasn't just thrown together with little thought. Also, the Book of Mormon demonstrates
that the book could only have come from an imaginative and inventive mind. Brodie made these
comments:
"... Joseph had developed a remarkable facility for dictation. ... To belittle his creative talent
is to
do him as great an injustice as to say that he had no learning -- a favorite Mormon thesis
designed to prove the authenticity of the book.
"His talent, it is true, was not exceptional, for his book lacked subtlety, wit, and style. He
was
chiefly a tale-teller and preacher. His characters were pale, humorless strereotypes; the prophets
were always holy, and in three thousand years of history not a single harlot was made to speak.
But he began the book with a first-class murder, added assassinations, and piled up battles by the
score. There was plenty of bloodshed and slaughter to make up for the lack of gaiety and the
stuff of humanity.
"Many stories he borrowed from the Bible. The daughter of Jared, like Salome, danced
before a
king and a decapitation followed. Aminadi, like Daniel, deciphered handwriting on a wall, and
Alma was converted after the exact fashion of St. Paul. The daughters of the Lamanites were
abducted like the dancing daughters of Shiloh; and Ammon, the American counterpart of David,
for want of a Goliath slew six sheep-rustlers with his sling.
"The book improved in tempo as it was written; there were fewer sermons and more
adventures.
But the prose style was unfortunate. Joseph's sentences were loose-jointed, like an earthworm
hacked into segments that crawl away alive and whole. Innumerable repetitions bogging down
the narrative were chiefly responsible for Mark Twain's ejaculation that the book was 'chloroform
in print.' The phrase 'and it came to pass' appeared at least two thousand times.
"The last haf of the book, however, possessed a dramatic intensity utterly lacking in the first
half.
Whereas the early portion had no political flavor except for casual references to America as 'the
land of liberty' and descriptions of democratic elections among the Nephites, the remainder was
charged with a crusading spirit that stemmed directly from the greatest murder mystery that ever
stirred New York State."
While the first half of the translation went at a snail crawl's pace, Joseph was rushed to finish
the
book. The second half was dictated with much greater speed.
Unfortunately, 116 pages of the book were given to Martin Harris the person who transcribed
the
first part of the book. Harris' wife, Lucy Harris, was very skeptical of the book, especially since
Martin was willing to put up their farm to finance the publication since Joseph, himself, was
"desperately poor and Emmas was pregnant." Lucy absolutely insisted on seeing the work before
giving her authorization, allowing Martin to put up their $10,000 farm to pay for the book.
Joseph was extremely reluctant to let Martin take the translated pages, but finally gave in.
Lucy
promptly stole these 116 pages from her husband and "neither pleas nor blows could make her
divulge its hiding-place."
This put Joseph in a frenzy. He knew that should he re-translate those pages, they would not
match -- should Lucy come up with the original manuscript. Harris wife taunted Joseph, -- "If
this be a divine communication, the same being who revealed it to you can easily replace it."
Brodie continues,
"The revelations then forbade Joseph to retranslate the first part of the plates because the
devil
was out to thwart the publication of the book and would see to it that the stolen version was
published in altered form. In His boundless wisdom, however, the Lord had foreseen this
contingency and had provided a set of small plates, called the plates of Nephi, which covered
exactly the same period in Indian history as the lost manuscript. This record was primarly
religious history, in contrast with the first version, which had been largely political. Once he had
translated it, he could go back to the old plates and carry on, presumably from page 117.
"Although he may not have sensed their significance, these, Joseph's first revelations, marked
a
turning-point in his life. For they changed the Book of Mormon from what might have been
merely an ingenious speculation into a genuinely religious book."
" ... Exactly when Martin Harris returned to Harmony to begin writing the translation of the
'plates of Nephi,' is not known, but it was some time during the winter of 1828-29. Joseph now
plunged into the story with ease, for he had behind him not only the earlier practice in dictating
but also a fruitful period of reflection. It was now more than a year since he first asserted he had
unearthed the plates, and he probably had the plan of the book worked out in his mind in
considerable detail. Nevertheless, in writing the early portion of the book, his literary reservoir
frequently ran dry. When this happened he simply arranged for his Nephite prophets to quote
from the Bible. Thus about twenty-five thousand words in the Book of Mormon consisted of
passages from the Old Testament -- chiefly those chapters from Isaiah mentioned in Ethan
Smith's 'View of the Hebrews' -- and about two thousand more words were taken from the New
Testament.
"Joseph made minor changes in these Biblical extracts, for it seems to have occurred to him
that
readers would wonder how an ancient American prophet could use the exact text of the King
James Bible. But he was careful to modify chiefly the italicized interpolations inserted for
euphony and clarity by scholars of King James; the un-italicized holy text he usually left intact."
Several inconsistencies crop up in the stories surrounding the gold plates. A gold brick
weighs 35
pounds. It is inconceivable that the Book of Mormon could have been inscribed on so little
equivalent piece of gold. More likely, the Book of Mormon would appear to be a book the size
now being displayed as a model in the LDS Church Museum on Temple Square in Salt Lake
City. In this case, it would have been closer to the size of ten gold bricks -- an equivalent weight
of 350 lbs.
When "hefting" the plates in a wooden box "similar to that in which glass is shipped,"
estimates
of the weight were described as "about 40 to 50 lbs."
Another large inconsistency crops up when it was described at one point that Joseph sat
behind a
curtain and transcribed the plates. Yet, Emma, who was the first to assist in the transcribing of
the gold plates had expressed wonder at how Joseph could leave the plates untouched on the
table, covered, yet accomplish the translation. Brodie continues:
"Emma was Joseph's first scribe. She never saw the plates, although they often lay on the
table
wrapped in a small linen tablecloth. Despite her skepticism and bewilderment Joseph apparently
had so frightened her about the consequences of examining them that she dared finger them
under their covering only when she moved them to dust the table. 'They seemed to be pliable
like thick paper,' she later said, 'and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were
moved by the thumb as one does sometimes thumb the edges of a book.'
"Mystified by his ability to translate the characters without even unwrapping the plates,
merely
by staring into his stone -- or stones for she said later that he used the Urim and Thummim for
the first 116 pages and the little dark seer stone for the remainder) -- she began to take down his
dictation."
Metallic sound? Gold, like lead is very dense and malleable. It would make no metallic
sound.
Emma "move the plates to dust" on the table with their extreme weight? ??
"Martin Harris was a round-faced bearded man whose sad, empty eyes betrayed something of his credulous nature. His wife (Lucy) thought him a fool and nagged at him incessantly about the money he was throwing away on the Golden Bible. Although he supported Joseph stubbornly, her barbs made him hesitate about financing publication of the book until he had examined the plates for himself. He had lifted them many times in their clapboard chest, estimating their weight at forty or fifty pounds, but this had only whetted his curiosity.
"When Joseph maintained his refusal to open the chest, Harris insisted on seeing at least a
copy
of the engraved characters. He would take them to New York City, he said, to the most learned
men in the land. If he could get their testimonials that the characters were truly Hebrew, it would
create a great sensation.
"But the characters were not Hebrew, Joseph explained. They were an altered or 'reformed'
Egyptian. Since engraving was a tedious process, the Nephite prophet Mormon had chosen this
language rather than Hebrew because it required less space.
"The choice of Egyptian for the language of the plates was clearly the fruit of Joseph's
reading.
Ethan Smith had described the Indian inscriptions as 'hieroglyphical records and painting,' and
the Wayne Sentinel on June 1, 1827 had published an account of a discovery of a Mexican
manuscript in hieroglyphics, which was considered proof that originally the Mexicans and
Egyptians 'had intercourse with each other, and ... had the same system of mythology.'
"At this time the Egyptian language was popularly believed to be indecipherable, for it was
not
until 1837 that the grammar worked out from the Rosetta stone by the French scholar
Champollion was first published in England. Joseph was not likely, therefore, to be held
accountable by any scholar for the accuracy of his Egyptian character, particularly since they
were 'reformed.'"
Harris took a sheet that Joseph said he copied from the Golden Bible to Samuel L. Mitchell
of
Rutgers Medical College "and known the country over as a living encyclopedia."
"If Harris hoped to impress anyone with documentary proof that the Indians were brother to
the
Jews, he could scarcely have selected a less sympathetic scholar. For Mitchell was one of the
few antiquarians of his day who believed the now established theory that the Indians had
originated in eastern Asia.
"Althought Mitchell gave Harris no satisfaction, he directed him to Charles Anthon,
professor of
Greek and Latin at Columbia College.
"...Anthon wrote later that the paper 'consisted of all kinds of crooked characters disposed in
columns, and had evidently been prepared by some person who had before him at the time a book
containing various alphabets. Greek, and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes, Roman letters
inverted or placed sideways, were arranged in perpendicular columns, and the whole ended in a
rude delineation of a circle divided into various compartments, decked with various strange
marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican calendar by Humboldt, but copied in such a way
as not to betray the source whence it was derived.'
"When Harris returned, word went about that Anthon had declared the characters to be
ancient
shorthand Egyptian. Eventually the scholar learned that his name was being used to advertise the
Book of Mormon and he wrote a violent denial. 'The whole story about my having pronounced
the Mormonite inscription to be 'reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics' is perfectly false.' ... The
whole story of the Golden Bible was either 'a hoax upon the learned' or 'a scheme to cheat the
farmer of his money.'"
Despite the lashing by Anthon, Harris continued to believe in the origins of the Book of
Mormon
and went ahead to help finance the publication ... even taking over to relieve Emma permanently
of the dictation task. Meanwhile Mrs. Harris "frantic now lest her husband give away his modest
fortune altogether, insisted on going with him" to Harmony.
Lucy Harris was so intent upon seeing the Golden Bible that she insisted on visiting Joseph's
and
Emma's home to take a look for herself. Brodie comments...
"Joseph was desperately poor, Emma was pregnant, and the coming of the grim, determined
woman whom they could ill afford to offend must have made hideous the fortnight she remained.
For she ransacked every corner and cupboard in the house, badgered relatives and neighbors, and
even searched the woods for signs of freshly dug soil. With mingled cajolery and cursing Harris
finally persuaded her to return home, and then, taking up where Emma left off, he began to write
down the story of the Book of Mormon.
"A blanket flung across a rope divided the room where they worked. On one side sat Joseph
staring into his stones, and on the other was Harris writing at a table. Joseph warned his scribe
that God's wrath would strike him down should he dare to examine the plates or look at him
while he was translating. Harris never betrayed his trust, though he once admitted that he tried to
trick Joseph by substituting an ordinary stone for the seer stone."
Oliver Cowdery was next in line to act as secretary and take Joseph's dictation for completion
of
the "translation."
None of Joseph's secretaries, however, knew English well enough to punctuate the dictated
work.
When the manuscript went to press "there was scarecely a capital letter, comma, or period in the
whole. The typesetters broke up the clauses as they saw fit, with the result that the first two
hundred sentences one hundred and forty began with 'And'."
Strangely, and in contradiction to the fact that a blanket supposedly separated Joseph from
the
secretaries, David Whitmer, a young farmer from Fayette, New York paid a visit to Joseph and
"watched the translation process." Brodie continues...
"Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it
closely
around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece
of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared writing. One character
at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would
read off the English to Oliver Cowdery who was his principal scribe, and when it was written
down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another
character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the
gift and power of God, and not by any power of man."
Brodie makes this observation:
"The lengths to which Joseph went to make his book historically plausible showed
considerable
ingenuity. ... He inserted a prophecy of his own coming, calling himself 'a choice seer' and
predicting that his name would be called Joseph, 'after the name of his father.'
"Of the 350 names in the book he took more than a hundred directly from the Bible. Over a
hundred others were Biblical names with slight changes in spelling or additions of syllables. But
since in the Old Testament no names began with the letters F, Q. W, X, or Y, he was careful not
to include any in his manuscript.
"Joseph did not trouble to explain the presence of wild animals in America, and he was
careless
in his choice of domestic beasts. He had the Jaredites bring horses, swine, sheep, cattle, and
asses, when it was known even in his own day that Columbus had found the land devoid of these
species. He blundered similarly in having the Nephites produce wheat and barley rather than the
indigenous maize and potatoes."
"Despite these artifices he was conscious that the book had many obvious defects. To
explain
them away he put an excuse in the mouth of Moroni: 'And if our plates had been sufficiently
large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also, and if we
could have written in Hebrew, ye would have had none imperfection in our record.' Even this did
not satisfy him, for he felt compelled to apologize on the title-page: 'Now if there be fault, it be
the mistake of men.' This he repeated near the end of the book with a guarded warning: '... and if
there be faults, they be the faults of a man. But behold, we know no fault. Nevertheless, God
knoweth all things; therefore he that condemneth, let him be aware lest he shall be in danger of
hell fire.'"
At this point in time, Joseph was anxious to organize his church. Cowdery, however, "who
had
none of Joseph's audacity, was disturbed because his leader was not even an ordained preacher.
They argued the matter of authority and ordination at length, and finally decided to fast for many
hours and then go to the woods and pray."
It was here they received the "true Hebraic priesthood" of Aaron and baptized each other.
"Ten years later Cowdery left Joseph Smith in disillusionment, yet he wrote of this season as
hallowed and said of the vision: ' ... the angel was John the Baptist, which I doubt not and deny
not.'"
The three men, Martin Harris, David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery along with Joseph Smith
were witnesses to the golden plates in the woods. Joseph had promised to let them be witness to
the plates. "These plates have been revealed by the power of God." Brodie states, "Following
the command of the revelation, the three men signed a statement drawn up by Joseph which was
printed at the end of the Book of Mormon."
Brodie continues:
"According to the local press of the time, the three witnesses all told different versions of
their
experience, a fact that makes it all the more likely that the men were not conspirators but victims
of Joseph's unconscious but positive talent at hypnosis. Martin Harris was questioned by a
Palmyra lawyer, who asked him pointedly: 'Did you see the plates and the engravings upon them
with your bodily eyes?' To which he replied: 'I did not see them as I do that pencil- case, yet I saw
them with the eye of faith; I saw them just as distinctly as I see anything around me -- though at
the time they were covered with a cloth.'
".... when Harris was a very old man he told one interviewer that he 'saw the angel turn the
golden leaves over and over' and heard him say: 'The book translated from those plates is true
and translated correctly.'"
All three of these original three witnesses eventually quarreled with Joseph and left his
church.
None, however, denied the reality of his vision. Cowdery and Harris were later rebaptized back
into the church.
In addition to these three witnesses, eight other witnesses were summoned: Christian
Whitmer,
Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, Jr., John Whitmer, Hiram Page, Joseph Smith Sen., Hyrum
Smith, and Samuel H. Smith. Brodie notes:
"One of the most plausible descriptions of the manner in which Joseph Smith obtained these
eight signatures was written by Thomas Ford, Governor of Illinois, who knew intimately several
of Joseph's key men after they became disaffected and left the church. They told Ford that the
witnesses were 'set to continual prayer, and other spiritual exercises.' Then at last 'he assembled
them in a room, and produced a box, which he said contained the precious treasure. The lid was
opened; the witnesses peeped into it, but making no discovery, for the box was empty, they said
'Brother Joseph, we do not see the plates.' The prophet answered them, 'O ye of little faith! how
long will God bear with this wicked and perverse generation? Down on your knees, brethren,
every one of you, and pray God for the forgiveness of your sins, and for a holy and living faith
which cometh down from heaven.' The disciples dropped to their knees, and began to pray in the
fervency of their spirit, supplicating God, for more than two hours with fanatical earnestness; at
the end of which time, looking again into the box, they were now persuaded that they saw the
plates."
Noting that four witnesses were from Whitmer's family, the other three from Joseph's and the
eighth, Hiram Page had married Whitmer's daughter; Mark Twain wrote, "I could not feel more
satisfied and at rest if the entire Whitmer family had testified."
"Yet it is difficult to reconcile this explanation with the fact that these witnesses, and later
Emma
and William Smith, emphasized the size, weight, and metallic texture of the plates. Perhaps
Joseph built some kind of makeshift deception. If so, it disappeared with his announcement that
the same angel that had revealed to him the sacred record had now carried it back into heaven."
Brodie makes this observation:
"A careful scrutiny of the Book of Mormon and the legendary paraphernalia obscuring its
origin
discloses not only Joseph's inventive and eclectic nature but also his magnetic influence over his
friends. Secretaries usually have no illusions about the men from whom they take dictation, but
Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris were caught in the spell of one of the most enigmatic
characters of the century."
At one point the printing of the Book of Mormon was stopped. A Palmyra "citizen's
committee"
boycotted the book. "When they presented a long list of names to the printer he took fright,
stopped the printing, and refused to resume it until he had been paid in full."
Joseph had tried several methods to generate money for the book's publication. However, in
desperation "Joseph lashed at Harris with the Lord's word: 'I command you to repent, lest I smite
you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by mine anger, and your sufferings be sore.'"
The lashing continued on for several lines ending with "Pay the printer's debt! Release
thyself
from bondage." Brodie said: "Thoroughly scared, Harris hastily sold his farm. Grandin (the
printer) was paid in full, and by March 26, 1830 the Book of Mormon was put on sale in the
Palmyra bookstore.
"On April 2 the Rochester Daily Advertiser published the first review:
"BLASPHEMY -- BOOK OF MORMON, ALIAS THE GOLDEN BIBLE."
"The Book of Mormon has been placed in our hands. A viler imposition was never
practiced. It
is an evidence of fraud, blasphemy, and credulity, shocking both to Christians and moralists. The
author and proprietor is Joseph Smith, Jr., a fellow who by some hocus pocus acquired such
influence over a wealthy farmer of Wayne county that the latter mortgaged his farm for $3,000,
which he paid for printing and binding five thousand copies of the blasphemous work."
The maturing Smith finds himself living with a philosophy of being a "part-time" prophet.
Joseph still likes the earthly things.... sex, money, power, and alcoholic drinks. Too, he was very
strong and loved to challenge others to a wrestling match. He fit in with almost anyone he talked
with. He wasn't just the ordinary white faced, meek preacher. Brodie quotes Joseph from his
journal:
"Josiah Butterfield came to my house and insulted me so outrageously that kicked him out of
the
house, across the yard, and into the street."
Brodie notes: "Here was a prophet who could hold his own with any man on the frontier.
".... Sometimes Mr. Smith speaks as a prophet, and sometimes as a mere man. If he gave a
wrong opinion respecting the book, he spoke as a mere man."
Joseph, himself "often said impatiently, 'A prophet is a prophet only when he is acting as
such.'"
Redefining was commonly used by Joseph Smith to explain away problems. When Joseph
started finding the earthly pleasure of the women he enticed, he was much more sophisticated to
justify his lust. Brodie states:
"Monogamy seemed to him (Joseph) -- as it has seemed to many men who have not ceased to
love their wives, but who have grown weary of connubial exclusiveness -- an intolerably
circumscribed way of life. 'Whenever I see a pretty woman,' he once said to a friend, 'I have to
pray for grace.' But Joseph was no careless libertine who could be content with clandestine
mistresses. There was too much of the Puritan in him, and he could not rest until he had
redefined the nature of sin and erected a stupendous theological edifice to support his new
theories on marriage."
Brodie went on:
"There was plenty of precedent for plural marriages in the Old Testament, beginning with
Father
Abraham. But it was Jacob's polygamous marriages that particularly interested Joseph Smith,
and he frequently referred to the new marriage principle as the blessing of Jacob. He was fond of
pointing to the commandment in Exodus: 'And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and
lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.' The sin of adultery lay not in the act itself
but in the subsequent desertion. It was the abandonment of the humbled maid that led to the
unspeakable evils of prostitution and infanticide."
Thus, a specialized interpretation of a generalized Bible passage justifies corruption, in
Joseph's
mind.
Soon, Joseph finds himself living a life of lies. Brodies continues:
"Joseph taught none of this (polygamy) openly, for he feared that polygamy would bring
down
the wrath of the gentiles. Until the day it could be publicly proclaimed, any whisper of the
doctrine of plural wives must be vehemently denied, and any man caught preaching it without his
own personal sanction must be summarily cut off from the church. Eventually, all the Saints
would be taken into his confidence and welded into a force that could oppose any gentile threat,
but until then the little lie must be voiced to protect the great truth.
"To break the ground before sowing broadcast the seeds of his new doctrine, Joseph's press
published a pamphlet in defense of polygamy be one Udney H. Jacob. Jacob produced a
document of astonishing sophistication, advocating polygamy not only in the light of Old
Testament precedent, but also as a solution for marital incompatibility. 'What, although a woman
is not known to be an adulteress,' he wrote, 'yet she may be a perfect devil to her husband, train
him in the most imperious manner, despise him in her heart, abuse him before his children, drive
him like a menial slave where she pleases; and he must tamely submit to the ungodly law of his
wife, must hug the serpent to his bosom, and love her as he does his own body! Impossible and
degrading to the nature of man.
"Such a wife must not be divorced, he said, for 'a divorced man is not known in the whole
canon
of scriptures.' But for her to continue performing the rituals of the marriage bed without any love
for her husband -- which he labeled 'fornication in the wife' -- was a gross sin. 'In ancient times
under the law of God,' he concluded, 'the permission of a plurality of wives had a direct tendency
to prevent the possibility of fornication in the wife.'
Brodie notes: ".... there is no doubt that Jacob looked upon woman as the inferior species.
'The
idea of a woman taking a man to be her husband is not found in the Word of God. But the man
marries the woman; and the woman is given in marriage. But the husband is not the property of
the wife in any sense of the word.'"
New justifications for polygamy seemed to come out of the wall from every direction. Some
specifics on the techniques of the application of marrying multiple wives is given by Brodie:
"The Female Relief Society, which Joseph had organized in mid-March 1842 with Emmaas
president, was quickly diverted from charitable offices to the purging of iniquity. With a passion
that probably came less from her exalted standards of moral behavior than from an unuttered
dread of what she might discover, Emma probed and questioned every woman who came into the
organization.
"Assisting her in the leadership of the society were some of the ablest women in the church:
Mrs.
Elizabeth Ann Whitney, Mrs. Sarah M. Cleveland, Elvira Cowles, and the poetess Eliza R.
Snow. Joseph publicly commended them for their zeal in making "a select society of the
virtuous," but warned them that "they must be extremely careful in their examinations, or the
consequences would be serious." Eventually every one of these women became his plural wife
with the exception of Mrs. Whitney, who granted him instead the privilege of marrying her
seventeen-year-old daughter Sarah. "The practice of enlarging the circle of wives in order to win
the loyalty of influential Nauvoo women was effective up to a point, after which it became highly
dangerous. Sooner or later some woman would be sufficiently revolted by polygamy to tell the
whole world about what was going on in Nauvoo. Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball, whom Joseph
approached in 1842, told him to teach the concept to someone else, but she kept silent. Mrs.
Orson Pratt, who also refused the prophet, confided in a few friends, but did not discuss
polygamy publicly until she was an embittered and lonely old woman.
"But a self-possessed eighteen-year-old English girl, Martha Brotherton, chose to speak her
mind. Brigham Young, who had not been lax in following his prophet's lead, had set his heart on
the high-spirited English lass. He took her to the famous rendezvous over Joseph's store, locked
the door, and proceeded with the curious, bobtailed, hortatory courtship that was becoming so
common in the city:
"'Brother Joseph has had a revelation from God that it is lawful and right for a man to have
two
wives. . . . If you will accept of me I will take you straight to the celestial kingdom, and if you
will have me in this world, I will have you in that which is to come, and brother Joseph will
marry us here today, and you can go home this evening, and your parents will not know anything
about it.'
"When the girl demurred and begged for time, Brigham called in Joseph, who also urged her
to
make an immediate decision. 'Just go ahead, and do as Brigham wants you to,' he said, and
added with a laugh: 'He is the best man in the world, except me.' Then he went on more
seriously: 'If you will accept of Brigham, you shall be blessed -God shall bless you, and my
blessing shall rest upon you . . . and if you do not like it in a month or two, come to me, and I
will make you free again; and if he turns you off, I will take you on.'
"'Sir, it will be too late to think in a month or two after,' Martha answered wryly. 'I want time
to
think first.'
"To this the prophet replied: 'But the old proverb is, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.''
"Finally and reluctantly they let her go home, where she promised to pray in secret for
guidance.
The moment she arrived, however, she wrote down the whole episode while it was still fresh in
her memory, and showed it to her parents. The Brothertons in high dudgeon took a steamboat to
St. Louis, but not before they had given Martha's recital enough circulation so that everyone in
Nauvoo knew it within a week. Eventually Martha published her account in a St. Louis paper."
The maturation of Joseph was a reinforcement of his love of money, power, and sex. Each of
his
troubles was transformed into a symbol of his calling:
"Thirteen years' adoration from his people had crystallized his abiding sense of destiny.
Assault,
apostasy, bankruptcy, and imprisonment he had weathered imperturbably, for each trouble had
been transformed into a symbol of his special calling. Disaster had been a springboard from
which he leaped to new successes. It was now easy for him to believe the simplest and most
gratifying explanation for his success -- that God had willed it. Without that belief he could not
have spoken so exuberantly in His name."
In Nauvoo, Joseph finds himself with a new title, "General." Riding in every parade and
appearing in every event, Joseph proudly worn his uniform and cherished his new
self-appointment as leader of the Nauvoo Military Legion. Brodie notes:
"Joseph requested -- and received -- from Governor Carlin the commission of
lieutenant-general
and thereafter frequently jested about his outranking every military officer in the United States.
He came to prefer the title "General" even to "President" and used it in much of his
correspondence. His uniform was smartly designed: a blue coat with a plentiful supply of gold
braid, buff trousers, high military boots, and a handsome cahpeau topped with ostrich feathers.
On his hip he carried a sword and two big horse-pistols. Delighting in the pomp and splendor of
parades, he called out the Legion on every possible occasion, marching at the head on his
magnificent black stallion, Charlie."
Meanwhile, the Nauvoo Temple carried out the sacred and secret "Temple Ceremony." Only
the
most obedient to the church were allowed to participate in these rituals. The rituals were a copy
of the Masonic ceremony. Brodie states:
"The men were stripped, washed, anointed, and then, as in the Masonic ceremony, dressed in
a
special 'garment' which was held together with strings or bone buttons, metal being forbidden.
According to John C. Bennett, this garment at first was a kind of shirt, which was worn only
during the ceremony and then hidden away as a kind of security against Destroying Angels. But
it was shortly changed into an unlovely and utilitarian long suit of underwear, which the novice
was instructed to wear always as a protection against evil.
"The Masonic square and compass were cut into the garment on the breast and a slash was
made
across the knee. In the beginning the cut across the knee was apparently deep enough to penetrate
the flesh and leave a scar, but this practice was eventually abandoned as a result of protests from
the Mormon women. There was also a slash in the garment across the abdomen, symbolic of the
disemboweling that would be the fate of anyone who revealed the sacred secrets."
" ... A Masonic Lodge was installed March 15, 1842 with headquarters in the big room over
Joseph's store. John C. Bennett was secretary. Joseph became a first-degree Mason on the night
of the installation, and the next night rose to the sublime degree. His interest in Masonry became
so infectious that many Mormon elders hastened to follow his lead, and within six months the
lodge had 286 candidates.
When the other non-Mormon Masonic lodges found out about the sudden increase in
membership, they were "thunderstruck." The total membership of all lodges in Illinois were only
227. Here, in the Mormon lodge, 286 candidates were being initiated.
"... It may seem surprising that Joseph should have incorporated so much Masonry into the
endowment ceremony in the very weeks when all his leading men were being inducted into the
Masonic lodge. They would have been blind indeed not to see the parallelism between the
costuming, grips, passwords, keys, and oaths. Joseph made free use of other Masonic symbols --
the beehive, the all-seeing eye, the two clasped hands, and the point within the circle. The
miracle play performed in the Mormon ceremony differed only in subject matter from the
Masonic drama of Hiram Abiff, and both used many of the same sonorous phrases from the Old
Testament. Joseph taught his men simply that the Masonic ritual was a corruption of the ancient
ritual of Solomon, and that his own was a restoration of the true Hebraic endowment."
All through this era, polygamy is going on behind the scenes; but vehemently denied by
Joseph
that it is being practiced. One lie leads to another. Not only does Joseph have to lie his way
through, but all his secret wives, too, find themselves caught up in the lie scheme.
However, in Nauvoo, the Mormon group is increasing in size. New converts are streaming
in
from England. More and more, it becomes harder to keep the truth from oozing out to the
gentile, non-Mormon group. In fact most members of the Mormon group did not even know that
plural marriage was going on among the higher elders in the church. Hints of such were
circulated, but most could not believe such a thing could possibly be going on.
Joseph's wife, Emma, knew early on that Joseph was taking on new wives. It was becoming
a
sore point between Emma and Joseph. Hyrum, Joseph's brother, repeatedly urged Joseph to
record the revelation on plural wives and celestial marriage. Hyrum said if he would do that he
would personally take the message and give it to Emma, showing her it was a "God ordained"
commandment. Brodie went on:
"Joseph replied with a wry smile: 'You do not know Emma as well as I do.' Before the
afternoon
was spent, however, he sat down and dictated to his secretary William Clayton the last and most
epoch-making revelation of his life. All that he had been thinking and dreaming over the past
years, everything that he had conceived about heaven and hell and sex, which he had never
before dared commit to paper, he now dictated in a great rush.
"After a long justification of polygamy on Biblical grounds, he went to the heart of the matter
in
a special commandment to Emma to 'receive all those that have been given unto my servant
Joseph' and to 'cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else.' The penalty for her
disobedience was savage: 'But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed,
saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law. But if
she will abide this commandment, then shall my servant Joseph do all things for her, even as he
hath said; and I will bless him and multiply him and give him an hundred-fold in this world, of
fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and crowns of
eternal lives in the eternal worlds.
"Then followed a concise statement of the new law: 'If any man espouse a virgin, and desire
to
espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins,
and have vowed to no other man, then he is justified; he cannot commit adultery.... and if he have
ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him....'
"Hyrum took the revelation to Emma and returned some time later angry and crestfallen. In
all
his life, he said, he had never been so abused by a woman. When Joseph had heard him through,
he remarked quietly: 'I told you you didn't know Emma as well as I did.'
"Although she stormed at Hyrum, Emma was terribly shaken by the sight of the manuscript.
Sorrowfully she said to William Law: 'The revelation says I must submit or be destroyed. Well, I
guess I'll have to submit.' But with the passing days she grew more courageous. however
inspired the revelations of the past may have been, she felt in her heart that this was a concoction
of John C. Bennett and the devil."
Note: John C. Bennett was charged with polygamy and was branded by Joseph Smith as an
example of immorality. (There was some speculation that they were both interested in marrying
the same young girl as a plural wife.)
Brodie continues:
"According to Heber Kimball, Emma now threatened to leave her husband altogether.
Joseph's
mother, who came to live with them about this time, apparently took Emma's part. 'I have never
seen a woman in my life,' Lucy wrote in 1845, 'who would endure every species of fatigue and
hardship, from month to month, and from year to year, with that unflinching courage, zeal and
patience, which she has ever done; for I know that which she has had to endure -- she has
breasted the storms of persecution, and buffeted the rage of men and devils, which would have
borne down almost any other woman.'
"There was a hard core of resistance in Emma that Joseph simply could not wear down. She
pleaded with him and badgered him, threatening and weeping, until finally he brought the
revelation home and gave it to her. She dropped it in the fireplace, put a candle to it, and
watched with grim satisfaction the long foolscap pages turn to curling, fragile bits of ash.
"The burning was a purely symbolic victory. Joseph had had a copy made, which he had
every
intention of showing about freely to his friends. But this at least was an end to argument of his
part, and to tears on hers. Never again would he humiliate her by asking her to stand witness to a
ceremony of wife-taking. Nor would he even discuss plural marriage in her presence. She on the
other hand, would never acknowledge one of her husband's wives though they reached the
hundredfold suggested by the revelation. Although she could no longer hope to restore the core
of a normal family relationship, at least the shell would be preserved intact."
Brodie comments about what upcoming Brigham Young said, "Brigham Young, who had
never
been comfortable in Emma's presence, swore that 'she will be damned as sure as she is a living
woman.' But to this kind of talk Joseph replied with a warmth that stopped the critics' mouths: 'I
will have her in the hereafter if I have to go to hell for her!'"
Again, the bulk of the church members in Nauvoo and particularly the new converts now
numbering about 4,000, coming in from England knew nothing of polygamy. "No one could
have been insulated from the gossip about spiritual wifism, but the majority accepted the word of
the church leaders that this system had disappeared with the expulsion of John C. Bennett."
Brodie notes: "Joseph added to the bewilderment and disbelief within Nauvoo by summarily
excommunicating anyone caught preaching or practicing polygamy without his sanction. .. He
wrote: 'and I have constantly said no man shall have but one wife at a time, unless the Lord
directs otherwise.'"
The wives taken in by the high elders were not only single women but women already
married to
other men ... even some who were non-members of Mormonism.
Not all was peace within Joseph's kingdom. Three of his Council of the Twelve leaders did
not
believe in the practice of polygamy. They represented thorns to Joseph and the other Council
members during the final days in Nauvoo.
Of the some 49 wives of Joseph Smith, some were in their teens, ages 15 to 19. Others were
as
old as 59. At least 12 were married women with living husbands. "The majority of the prophet's
wives fall into three general categories: first, the group of married women to whom Joseph was
sealed between 1838 and the expulsion of Bennett in June 1842; and second, the leading women
in the Nauvoo Relief Society, who were married to the prophet during the furor that followed
Bennett's departure. The third group consists of the dozen or more unmarried women whom he
married in the spring and summer of 1843. Most of them were quite young..... Six of the girls
Joseph took as wives lived at various times as wards in his own home."
The pot starting boiling over, however, as more and more the non-members realized the
lawlessness and lies being told by Joseph. Hatred ran deep.
Eventually, Joseph ended up in the Carthage jail. Here he and Hyrum were killed by a
military
mob which didn't want to chance Joseph escaping, yet again, from jail.
Emma never did sanction Joseph's other wives. In fact, she denied he had ever had them.
She
told even her children that Joseph was "always faithful." Despite sworn statements by Joseph's
many other wives of his marriages to him, Emma maintained this stance.
Brodie comments: "Polygamy, however, she always denied. 'There was no revelation on
either
polygamy or spiritual wives,' she said stubbornly. 'He had no other wife but me.... He did not
have improper relations with any woman that ever came to my knowledge.' And this was her
revenge and solace for all her heartache and humiliation. This was her slap at all the sly young
girls in the Mansion House who had looked first so worshipfully and then so knowingly at
Joseph. She had given them the lie. Whatever formal ceremony he might have gone through,
Joseph had never acknowledged one of them before the world. This was her great triumph and
she made the most of it. Her four sons clung grimly to their mother's word, despite the sworn
testimony of women whom Joseph had loved and of the guards who had shadowed him when he
paid nocturnal visits to their homes."
Emma married a non-Mormon, Major Lewis Bidamon after Joseph's death.
In the "Epilogue," Brodie gives considerable credit to the Mormon church of today stating:
"What, then, remains of Joseph Smith in the modern Mormon Church? Most of the human
qualities that endeared him to those who knew him -- his jollity, kindliness, love of sport and
good living, his athletic grace, and his prodigious personal charm -- have been forgotten. But
there remains his story, beginning with the great vision of the Father and the Son and ending with
his martyrdom, a legend without parallel in American religious history.
"But this legend alone is not enough to explain the vigor and tenacity of the Mormon Church.
Before his death Joseph had established an evangelical socialism, in which every man worked
feverishly to build the Kingdom of God upon earth. This has grown into a vast pyramidal
organization, in which the workers finance the church, advertise it, and do everything but govern
it. The Mormon people are still bent on building the Kingdom of God, and everyone from the
twelve-year-old deacon to the eighty-year-old high priest is made to feel that upon him depends
the realization of that ideal. Here as in no other church in America the people are the church and
the church the people. It is not only work and sacrifice, but a sense of participation and
responsibility that generates the steadfast Mormon loyalty.
"The average Mormon no longer reads the holy books of Joseph Smith, and the only
revelation
with which he is familiar is the injunction against the use of tobacco and alcohol. Yet he believe
fervently in the doctrine of eternal progression, which of all the prophet's tenets is the most
endemic to America. Every Mormon, if he thinks about it at all, believes himself to be on the
road to godhood. And since, according to Joseph 'a man is saved no faster than he gets
knowledge,' a passion for education has become one of the common denominators of Mormon
culture. Joseph Smith's great zest for learning started a tradition that did not diminish with time.
'The glory of God is intelligence' has become the most quoted of all his aphorisms, and there is
no room for cynicism or fatalism in Mormon thinking.
"Perhaps the most vigorous tradition transmitted by Joseph Smith was the identification of God with material prosperity. The practice established at Nauvoo has been continued by the church in Utah, which controls large sections of Mormon real estate and industry. Financial wizardry has come to be looked upon as equally important with spiritual excellence among the qualifications for church leadership. But the communistic ideology that pervaded the experiments of an earlier day is vehemently disavowed. Big business has become thoroughly beatified."
...
"As one approaches Joseph's birthplace, one comes upon a marker that heralds the proximity
of
this Bethlehem of Mormonism. It message is too ingenuously deceptive of the true missionary
spirit it embodies. 'Visit,' it urges, 'the Joseph Smith Monument, World's Largest Polished Shaft.'
"One cannot say that the prophet has been too ill served by this sign, for it only symbolizes the barrenness of his spiritual legacy. Joseph had a ranging fancy, a revolutionary vigor, and a genius for improvisation, and what he could mold with these he made well. With them he created a book and a religion, but he could not create a truly spiritual content for that religion. ... His martyrdom was a chance event, wholly incidental to the creed that he created."
...
"Joseph in his own person provided a symbol of nearness to God and a finality of
interpretation
that made the ordinary frontier evangelist seem by comparison all sound and fury. There was a
great hunger in his people, and they accepted him for what he set himself up to be. They
believed the best of him and thereby caused him to give his best. Joseph's true monument is not a
granite shaft in Vermont but a great Intermountain empire in the West."