I have written previously about how the Relief Society issued a statement in October 1842 declaring that the only system of marriage known of in the Church was that of simple monogamy and that the “spiritual wifery” of John C Bennett was his own invention. ((See “False Witnesses and Lost Credibility“)) In that article I mentioned that Emma Smith was in a difficult position because both of her counsellors and her secretary were all involved in Joseph’s own system of polygamy. This was somewhat ironic because she devoted no small part of her efforts as President of the Relief Society in attempting to investigate and eradicate the plague of “spiritual wifery” that Joseph blamed squarely on John C Bennett.

A letter issued to her as President of the Relief Society just a few days after the organization was formed may be helpful in explaining why Emma would be so fervent in denouncing and eradicating the scourge of plural marriage.

The Letter of 31 March 1842

Background

On March 17, 1842 The Relief Society was formed with it’s inaugural meeting being held in the upstairs room of Joseph’s Red Brick store. ((This is the same room in which Joseph had been made a Master Mason the very evening prior.)) 2 weeks later Joseph Smith as President of the Church and Brigham Young as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued a letter to Emma as President of the Relief Society.

The prior summer, John C Bennett had been discovered to be seducing women under his system of spiritual wifery and despite being brought to trial before the church on the matter, had persisted in his activities and was also discovered to have been telling his targets that Joseph himself taught and practiced the same. John C Bennett was acting as both Mayor of Nauvoo as well as Assistant President in the First Presidency of the Church in March 1842.

It was in this setting that the Relief Society had formed and it was  upon that topic which Joseph addressed Emma in this letter.

The epistle explored

The letter was read during the 3rd meeting of the Relief Society, after a brief address by Joseph Smith, who then withdrew. The minutes of the Relief society record the following:

“After appropriate remarks Prest. E. Smith, said she had an Article to read which would test the ability of the members in keeping secrets; as it was for the benefit of the Society, and that alone——
Read the Article.— Then gave strictures on female propriety and dignity &c. &c.”
(“Nauvoo Relief Society Minutebook” page 24 JosephSmithPapers.org)

The text of the letter as read in the meeting was included in the minutebook later that year and recorded on page 86. Let’s examine the letter section by section and see what Joseph was conveying to the newly formed women’s group:

To the Hon., the President of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Greeting:

Can the “Female Relief Society of Nauvoo” be trusted with some important matters that ought actually to belong to them to see to, which men have been under the necessity of seeing to, to their chagrin & mortification, in order to prevent iniquitous characters from carrying their iniquity into effect; such, as for instance, a man who may be aspiring after power and authority, and yet without principle,- regardless of God, man, or the devil, or the interest or welfare of man, or the virtue or innocence of woman?

The first sentence sees the Prophet opening the Relief Society to the struggles that the men of the church have had in dealing with the hidden iniquities – specifically describing a man who could only be John C Bennett. He specifically does not mention Bennett’s name in the entire letter, the reason for which he will make known shortly.

Shall the credulity, good faith, and stedfast feelings of our sisters, for the cause of God or truth, be impos’d upon by believing such men, because they say they have authority from Joseph, or the First Presidency, or any other Presidency of the Church; and thus, with a lie in their mouth, deceive and debauch the innocent, under the assumption that they are authoriz’d from these sources? May God Forbid!

Here Joseph is describing how such men (Bennett) might prey upon the trusting nature of the women by claiming that the Prophet himself has given them authorization to “debauch the innocent” or engage in spiritual wifery.

A knowledge of some such things having come to our ears, we improve this favorable opportunity, wherein so goodly a number of you may be inform’d that no such authority ever has, ever can, or ever will be given to any man, and if any man has been guilty of any such thing, let him be treated with utter contempt, and let the curse of God fall on his head, and let him be turned out of Society as unworthy of a place among men, & denounced as the blackest & the most unprincipled wretch; and finally let him be damned!

Here Joseph is taking the opportunity to inform the largest official body of women in the Church that such a system does not exist. He goes beyond that, though – and emphatically states that such authority never can or will be given to any man. Knowing, as we do, that Joseph eventually introduced a system of plural marriages, defenders of Joseph will be quick to point out that Bennett’s spiritual wifery basically justified free love, so long as the relations were kept secret, whereas Joseph’s Celestial marriage had theological framework guided by inspiration and sacred religious ceremony and sealing. This way Joseph’s defenders can say that while no such authority could or would ever be granted to “spiritual wifery” – that is not to say that “celestial marriage” would not be authorized.

The extent of cursing pronounced upon anyone who would make this claim is notable. The letter continues:

We have been informed that some unprincipled men, whose names we will not mention at present, have been guilty of such crimes. We do not mention their names, not knowing but what there may be some among you who are not sufficiently skill’d in Masonry as to keep a secret, therefore, suffice it to say, there are those, and we therefore warn you, & forewarn you, in the name of the Lord, to check & destroy any faith that any innocent person may have in any such character;

This section is particularly interesting. Joseph was elevated to the degree of Master Mason in the very same room the night before the Relief Society first met on 17 March 1842. He would later state in a sermon that “The secret of Masonry is to keep a secret” ((History of the Church, Vol 6, Ch 3 byu.edu)) and it is clear from the letter that the technology of keeping secrets employed by the Freemasons, was something that he valued. Disclosing that the man involved was no less that John C Bennett – Mayor and member of the First Presidency would cause great damage to Joseph and the Church if it were publicly revealed. It is no surprise that his identity was kept secret in this letter – particularly from people who have not taken oaths of secrecy upon penalty of death that are part of Freemasonry.

It is curious to note that at the time of this letter, only men were able to be subject to the oaths of secrecy in Freemasonry. That would soon change, however, as the Temple Endowment ceremony would be introduced just a few weeks later in the very same 2nd floor room of Joseph’s red brick store – complete with Masonic flavored penalty bound oaths of secrecy which women could also partake of. Joseph then solved the uncertainty and the Prophet would have no reason to doubt the sister’s skills in masonry so as to keep a secret.

for we do not want any one to believe any thing as coming from us, contrary to the old established morals & virtues & scriptural laws, regulating the habits, customs & conduct of society; and all persons pretending to be authoriz’d by us, or having any permit, or sanction from us, are & will be liars & base impostors, & you are authoriz’d on the very first intimation of the kind, to denounce them as such, & shun them as the flying fiery serpent, whether they are prophets, Seers, or revelators; Patriarchs, twelve Apostles, Elders, Priests, Mayers, Generals, City Councillors, Aldermen, Marshalls, Police, Lord Mayors or the Devil, are alike culpable & shall be damned for such evil practices; and if you yourselves adhere to any thing of the kind, you also shall be damned.

This is a very emphatic statement. Joseph is stating that teachings which contradict traditional morals, virtues and scriptural laws governing society would not come from the leaders of the Church and that as soon as anyone claimed such, they could immediately and forcefully be rejected.

That’s not all though, Joseph goes further and states that it doesn’t matter what religious or political or civil rank the person may claim to hold – even prophet, seer and revelator – such practices are absolutely condemned. It should be noted that even Joseph’s system of plural marriage was a departure from what was understood as “old established” morals, virtues and scriptural laws. This letter alone would invalidate his own teaching on the matter when it would come public.  If this letter was to be taken seriously, Joseph should have been considered a fiery flying serpent, denounced, turned out and damned when he disclosed his teaching on polygamy. He wasn’t.

Now beloved Sisters, do not believe for a moment, that we wish to impose upon you, we actually do know that such things have existed in the church, and are sorry to say that we are obliged to make mention of any such thing, and we want a stop put to them, and we desire you to do your part, and we will do ours, for we wish to keep the commandments of God in all things, as given directly from heav’n to us, living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.

This is an important admission and also one reason that the standard of masonic secrecy was being invoked with this letter. Publicly Joseph was denying that any such things existed in the Church, but if news came out that a member of the First Presidency was involved, those public denials would lose their effectiveness. Taking Joseph at his word here – he is doing everything to eliminate that stain from being a liability to the church’s reputation.

May God add his blessing upon your heads and lead you in all the paths of virtue, piety & peace, that you may be an ornament unto those to whom you belong, and rise up and crown them with honors, & by so doing, you shall be crown’d with honor in heav’n and shall sit upon thrones, judging those over whom you are plac’d in authority, and shall be judg’d of God for all the responsibilities that we confer’d upon you.

At a more convenient and appropriate season, we will give you further information upon this subject.

Let this Epistle be had as a private matter in your Society, and then we shall learn whether you are good masons.

Another allusion to the secrecy standard set by the Masons. It was clear that this privileged information was to be kept confidential within the organization of the Relief Society. The Relief Society actually has a surprising amount of connections with Freemasonry. ((See “Keeping a Secret: Freemasonry, Polygamy, and the Nauvoo Relief Society, 1842-1844” Cheryl Bruno academia.edu)) The letter finally closes.

We are your humble Servants in the Bonds of the New & Everlasting Covenant.”

– Signed by

Hyrum Smith
Joseph Smith, President of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Heber C. Kimball
Willard Richards
Vinson Knight
Brigham Young, Prest. of the Quorum of the Twelve

P.S. If the Lord be God, serve him; but if baal, then serve him.

Conclusion

This letter, composed from the leaders of the Church to the Leaders of the Relief Society, was an emphatic rejection of the notion of spiritual wifery or any other teaching that would vary from the “old established” morals, values and scriptures. “But wait!” the defenders will cry “Polygamy is in harmony with old values, moral and scriptures! It was done in Abraham’s time and he was a moral man who kept God’s values and we know this from scripture!” This defense should be rejected outright. Joseph was reinforcing what was already in the young Church’s modern scripture. In the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, Section 101 it stated:

“Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again.”
(1835 Doctrine and Covenants, section 101 JosephSmithPapers.org)

Those were the established morals, values and scripture Joseph wanted them to understand that he was enshrining in a protective shell against any future “prophet, seer, revelator” “Apostle” Mayor, etc. from ever violating. There is no escape clause in the letter recorded in the Minutes of the Relief Society which would allow a future Prophet to change it.

Or was there…

…One More Thing

The pesky thing about keeping records is that the records are then kept. If you dig through the church archives available at JosephSmithPapers.org you can actually find the original letter that was written and sent to Emma. If you run the text of the letter through a comparison algorithm that tracks changes, you can see very visually what was changed from the original to that recorded in the minutes. I have done this and you can view the results in the appendix below or at archive.org.

Most of the changes are minor grammatical, spelling and punctuation, but there is a whole phrase that was completely redacted or left out of the reading of the letter into the minutes which dramatically changes the message of the letter:

we therefore warn you, & forewarn you, in the name of the Lord, to check & destroy any faith that any innocent person may have in any such character; for we do not want any bodyone to believe any thing as coming from us,contrary to the old established morals & virtues & scriptural laws, regulating the habits, customs & conduct ofFaith unless it be by message del[iv]ered to you by our own mouth, by actual revelation & commandment.society;and all persons pretending to be authoriz’d by us, or having any permit, or sanction from us, are & will be liars & base impostors, & you are authoriz’d on the very first intimation of the kind, to denounce them as such

You can see that the phrase “…unless it be by message del[iv]ered to you by our own mouth, by actual revelation & commandment” was left out of what Emma read to the Relief Society. By doing so, she left out any acknowledgement that Joseph as Prophet could, in fact, give commandment and revelation that would be contrary to old established morals, virtues and scripture. This would have left the door open for the forthcoming doctrine of plural marriage.

I have my own suspicions why she left it out. What do you think?

Appendix 1

Original Letter here

Relief Society Minutebook record here

Track Changes of the Letter:

To the Hon., the President of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Greeting:

Can the “Female Relief Society of Nauvoo” be trusted with some important matters that ought actually to belong to them to see to, which men have been under the necessity of seeing to, to their chagrin & mortification, in order to prevent iniquitous characters from carrying their iniquity into effect; such, as, for instance, a man who may be aspiring after power and authority, and yet without principle,- regardless of God, man, or the devil, or the interest or welfare of menman, or the virtue or innocence of women? woman?

Shall the credulity, good faith, and stedfast feelings of our sisters, for the cause of God or truth, be impos’d upon by believing such men, because they say they have authority from Joseph, or the First Presidency, or any other Presidency of the Church; and thus, with a lie in their mouth, deceive and debauch the innocent, under the assumption that they are authoriz’d from these sources? May God Forbid!

A knowledge of some such thingthings having come to our ears, we improve this favorable opportunity, wherein so goodly a number of you may be inform’d that no such authority ever has, ever can, or ever will be given. to any man, and if any man has been guilty of any such thing, let him be treated with utter contempt, and let the curse of God fall on his head, and let him be turned out of Society as unworthy of a place among men, & denounced as the blackest & the most unprincipled wretch; and finally let him be damned.!

We have been informed that some unprincipled men, whose names we will not mention at present, have been guilty of such crimes,. We do not mention their names, not knowing but what there may be some among you who are not sufficiently skill’d in Masonry as to keep a secret, therefore, suffice it to say, there are those, and we therefore warn you, & forewarn you, in the name of the Lord, to check & destroy any faith that any innocent person may have in any such character; for we do not want any bodyone to believe any thing as coming from us, contrary to the old established morals & virtues & scriptural laws, regulating the habits, customs & conduct of Faith unless it be by message del[iv]ered to you by our own mouth, by actual revelation & commandment.society; and all persons pretending to be authoriz’d by us, or having any permit, or sanction from us, are & will be liars & base impostors, & you are authoriz’d on the very first intimation of the kind, to denounce them as such & fly, & shun them as the fiery flying serpentsfiery serpent, whether they are prophets, Seers, or revelators,; Patriarchs, twelve Apostles, Elders, Priests, MayorsMayers, Generals, City council alderman, MarshallCouncillors, Aldermen, Marshalls, Police, Lord MayorMayors or the Devil, are alike culpable. & shall be damned for such evil practices; and if you yourselves adhere to any thing of the kind, you, also shall be damned.

Now beloved Sisters, do not believe for a moment, that we wish to impose upon you, we actually do know that such things have existed in the church, and are sorry to say that we are obliged to make mention of any such thing, and we want a stop put to them, and we wantdesire you to do your part, and we will do ours, for we wish to keep the commandments of God in all things, as given directly from heav’n to us, living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.

May God add his blessing upon your heads and lead you in all the paths of virtue, piety & peace, that you may be a presidentan ornament unto those to whom you belong & arise, and rise up and crown them with powerhonors, & by so doing, you shall be crown’d with honor in heav’n and shall sit upon thrones, judging them those over whom you are plac’d in authority over in the world, and shall be judg’d of God for all the responsibilities that are we confer’d upon you.

At a more convenient and appropriate season, we will give you further information upon this subject.

Let thatthis Epistle be had as a private matter in your Society, and then we shall learn whether you are good masons.

We are your humble Servants in the Bonds of the New & Everlasting Covenant.”

– Signed by

Hyrum Smith
Joseph Smith, President of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Heber C. Kimball
Willard Richards
Vinson Knight
Brigham Young, Prest. of the Quorum of the Twelve

P.S. If the Lord be God, serve him &; but if baal [illegible], then serve him.