When I (G.A.S) returned to Nauvoo from
my mission in the fall of 1843, I met Hyrum at the landing. He accompanied me
on the way to my home when he recited most of the Revelation of Patriarchial
Marriage, and invited me to his house to receive further instruction. Next day,
I called on your father, who expressed his gratitude at the conversion of
brother Hyrum, and gave me additional views on the subject, and spoke of the
results of the same in the eternal worlds.
Your father reasoned on these subjects
in this wise. He said the Lord denounced in the Bible every species of crime.
He proclaimed against adultery, fornication, and divorce, but never against
plurality of wives; and in all cases where his faithful--he blessed them for
it. He punished King David severely for his adultery with the wife of Uriah;
and while God by the mouth of his prophet was chastening him he says; "I
gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave
thee the house of Israel and Judah, and if that had been too little, I would moreover
gave given unto thee such and such things."
When the passage in the Book of
Mormon enjoining monogamy was referred to your father, he replied that “God
has commanded us.”
Any one who will read carefully the
denials, as they are termed, of plurality of wives in connection with the
circumstances will see clearly denounce adultery, fornication, brutal lust and
the teaching of plurality of wives by those who were not commanded to do so;
showing clearly that it was understood that such commandment would be given to others.
(George
A. Smith, Letter to Joseph Smith III, October 9, 1869, 7-8)
