[S]cholarship on early practices indicates that Mormons’ observance of the Word of Wisdom in the nineteenth century was far less of a focal point than it later became, despite the Word of Wisdom later being declared a firm commandment by President Lorenzo Snow on May 5, 1898, following the precedent set by “a statement from Brigham Young that the Word of Wisdom was a commandment of God.” Early Mormons eschewed drunkenness, for example, but did not entirely abstain from alcohol. Wine was served at Mormon weddings in the 1830s, at religious gatherings in which the Saints practiced speaking in tongues, and as part of the sacrament in church meetings. Historian Lauren Thatcher Ulrich has chronicled the fact that “a jug seems to have been essential equipment” at Winter Quarters in the 1840s. When he was president of the Church, Brigham Young himself did not always adhere to the Word of Wisdom’s counsel. He maintained his habit of chewing tobacco until 1848, when he decided to quit the habit, and abstained successfully until 1857, when a painful toothache drove him to seek pain relief in chewing once again. He finally kicked the habit for good in 1860. In a sermon in March of that year, though, Young did not demand total abstinence from other brethren: he advised any men with a tobacco habit merely to “be modest about it,” not spitting in public or taking out “a whole plug of tobacco in meeting before the eyes of the congregation.” Rather, they were to go outside and avoid sullying the parlors of Zion. “If you must use tobacco, put a small portion in your mouth when no person sees you,” he advised. (John E. Ferguson III, Benjamin R. Knoll, and Jana Riess, “The Word of Wisdom in Contemporary American Mormonism: Perceptions and Practice” in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 51/1 [Spring 2018]: 39-77, here, pp. 41-42)
Further Reading
Steven C. Harper, The Word of Wisdom (Setting the Record Straight)
