Truth Never Changes Volume 13, No. 9

TRUTH NEVER CHANGES

A PUBLICATION IN THE SPIRIT AND TRADITON OF TRUTH MAGAZINE

Y       VOLUME 13    JULY  2010    NUMBER 09        Y

THE HISTORY OF THE MANIFESTO

President George Q. Cannon, Sixty-first Semi-Annual Conference of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
(immediately following the adoption by the General Assembly of the Manifesto issued by
President Wilford in relation to Plural Marriages
 Oct. 6th, 1890

               

On the 19th of January, 1841, the Lord gave His servant Joseph Smith a revelation, the 49th paragraph of which I will read:

                "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men, to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might, and with all they have, to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them, and hinder them from performing that work; behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings."

IN THIS ISSUE: THE HISTORY OF THE MANIFESTO………………………………290 QUOTE……………………………………………………………………...295 LIFE SKETCH OF TED JESSOP…………………………….…………296 A LETTER………………………………………………………………...299 A VISON OF DESTRUCTION…………………………………………300 JOSEPH WHITE MUSSER…………………………………………….303

                The Lord says other things connected with this, which I do not think it necessary to read, but the whole revelation is profitable, and can be read by those who desire to do so.

                It is on this basis that President Woodruff has felt himself justified in issuing this manifesto.

                I suppose it would not be justice to this Conference not to say something upon this subject; and yet everyone knows how delicate a subject it is, and how difficult it is to approach it without saying something that may offend somebody.  So far as I am concerned, I can say that of the men in this Church who have endeavored to maintain this principle of plural marriage, I am one.   In public and in private I have avowed my belief in it.  I have defended it everywhere and under all circumstances, and when it was necessary have said that I considered the command was binding and imperative upon me.

                But a change has taken place.  We have, in the first place, endeavored to show that the law which affected this feature of our religion was unconstitutional.  We believed for years that the law of July 1, 1862, was in direct conflict with the first amendment to the Constitution, which says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."  We rested upon that, and for years continued the practice of plural marriage, believing the law against it to be an unconstitutional one, and that we had the right, under the Constitution, to carry out this principle practically in our lives.  So confident was I in relation to this view that in conversations with President Grant, and with his Attorney General, ex-Senator Williams, of Oregon, I said to them that if my case were not barred by the statute of limitations I would be willing to have it made a test case, in order that the law might be tested.  We were sustained in this view not only by our own interpretation of the amendment to the Constitution, but also by some of the best legal minds in the country, who took exactly the same view that we did--that this law was an interference with religious rights, and that so long as our practices did not interfere with the happiness and peace of society, or of others, we had the right to carry out this principle.  In fact, it is within six or eight months that, in conversation with two United States Senators, each conversation being separate from the other, both of them expressed themselves, though not in the same language, to this effect:  "Mr. Cannon, if this feature that you practice had not been associated with religion, it might have been tolerated; but you have associated it with religion and it has aroused the religious sentiment of the nation, and that sentiment cannot be resisted.  So far as the practice itself is concerned, if you had not made it a part of your faith and an institution sanctioned by religion, it might have gone along unnoticed."  I do not give the exact language; but these are the

 ideas that they conveyed to me.  Now, we were very confident that this law was an unconstitutional one.  President Daniel H. Wells will remember how he and I tried to get a case to test the constitutionality of the law during the lifetime of President Brigham Young.   We wanted to get Brother Erastus Snow.  It is the last thing that we should have thought of to put a man like he was in the gap if we had not been firmly convinced that the law was unconstitutional and would be declared so by the United States Supreme Court.  We telegraphed to Brother Erastus in the south, thinking that his case would not be barred by the statute of limitations.  He replied to us concerning it, and we found that it was barred.  Brother A. M. Musser proposed himself, if I remember aright, to be a test case; but there was a defect in his case.  We wanted this case, whenever it was presented, to be presented fairly, that there should be no evasion about it, but that it should be a case that could be tested fairly before the courts of the country.   Finally, Brother George Reynolds was selected.  I said to myself, when I learned the result, "it is the last time that I will ever have anything to do with a test case again which will involve the liberty of anybody."  I was promised when he was sentenced, by one high in authority and who had the right to make the promise, that he should be released, when the circumstances were told to him; for they were laid fairly before him, and he was told that the evidence had been furnished by Brother Reynolds himself, and that everything had been done to make it a test case; the government had been aided in the securing of witnesses, and no difficulty thrown in the way.  Afterwards, on the second trial, I believe Brother Reynolds' lawyers got frightened, and there was something occurred then that gave it a different appearance.  But when the facts were related, as I stated, to one high in authority, he promised me that George Reynolds should be pardoned.  There were those, however, in this city who were determined that he should not escape imprisonment, and the prosecuting attorney wrote a letter which changed the mind of this high official, as he afterward told me, and he declined to carry out that which I had received as a promise.  But even then there were circumstances connected with this decision that made us reluctant to accept it.

                Since that time the history of proceedings is before you and before the world.  We have felt as though this command of God was of such importance to us, involving so many serious consequences, that we should do all in our power to have the world know the position that we occupied.  There may be men among us who believed they would be damned if they did not obey this, accepting it as a direct command from God.  Therefore, you can understand how tenaciously we have protested, and how vigorously we have endeavored, as far as we could, to make public our views upon this subject.

                I suppose there are two classes here today in this congregation—one class who feels sorrow to the bottom of their hearts because of the necessity of this action that we have now taken; another class who will say:  "Did I not tell you so?"  "Did I not tell you it would come to this?"  "Did I not say to you that you ought to take advantage of and comply with this years ago, instead of enduring that which you have suffered since that time?"  There may be men here today who pride themselves on their foresight, and who take credit to themselves because they foresaw, as they allege, that which we have done today, and would lead others to believe that if their counsel had been adopted, if the views that they presented had been accepted by the people, it might have saved very serious consequences to us all and left us in a better position than that which we occupy today.  But I, for one, differ entirely with this view.  I believe that it was necessary that we should witness unto God, the Eternal Father, unto the heavens and unto the earth, that this was really a principle dear unto us--dearer, it might be said, in some respects, than life itself.  We could not have done this had we submitted at the time that those of whom I speak suggested submission.  We could not have left our own nation without excuse.  It might have said, "Had we known all that you tell us now concerning this, we should have had very different views about this feature of your religion than we did have."  But now, after the occurrences of the past six years have been witnessed by this entire nation and by the world, and by God the Eternal Father and the heavenly hosts, no one can plead as an excuse that they have been ignorant of our belief and the dearness of this principle to us.  Upwards of thirteen hundred men have been incarcerated in prison, going there for various terms from one or three months up to years.  They have gone there willingly, as martyrs to this principle, making a protest that the heavens and the earth should bear record of, that they were conscientious in espousing this principle, and that it was not for sensual indulgence, because if sensual indulgence had been the object we could have obtained it without such sacrifices as were involved in obedience to this law--without going to prison, without sustaining wives and children, without the obloquy that has been heaped upon us because of this action of ours.  If licentious motives had prompted us, we could have secured the results in a cheaper way and in a way more in consonance with universal customs throughout our own land and all Christendom.  But the sacrifices that we have made in this respect bear testimony to the heavens and to the earth that we have been sincere and conscientious in all that we have done, and that we have not been prompted by a desire to use women for lustful purposes, but to save them, to make them honorable, and to leave no margin of women in our society to become a pray to lust, so that every woman in our land should have the opportunity of becoming a virtuous wife and an honored mother, loved and respected by her offspring and by all her associates.

                If no other result has attended what may be termed our obstinacy, these results are, at least, upon record, and they never can be blotted out.  The imprisonment of these men, the sufferings--the untold, unwritten, yea, the unmentionable, it may be said, sufferings--of wives and children, they are recorded in heaven and are known to men upon the earth, and they form a chapter that will never be blotted out.

                Latter-day Saints, there has been nothing lost in the five years that have just passed.  We have lost no credit.  There has been no honor sacrificed.  We can look God in the face--that is, if we are permitted to do so, so far as this is concerned, we can; we can look the holy angels in the face; we can look mankind in the face, without a blush, or without feeling that we have done anything unworthy of our manhood or of our professions and the faith that God has given unto us.  This all of us can do; and if no other result has followed what may be called our obstinacy than these which I now describe they are grand enough to pay us for all that we have gone through.

                But the time has come when, in the providence of God, it seemed necessary that something should be done to meet the requirements of the country, to meet the demands that have been made upon us, and to save the people.  President Woodruff and others of us have been appealed to hundreds of times, I might say;--I can say for myself, that I have been appealed to many scores of times to get out something and to announce something.  Some of our leading brethren have said:  "Inasmuch as we have ceased to give permission for plural marriages to be solemnized, why cannot we have the benefit of that?  Why cannot we tell the world it, so as to have the benefit of it?  Our enemies are alleging constantly that we still practice this in secret, and that we are dishonest and guilty of evasion.  Now, if we have really put a stop to granting permissions to men to take more wives than one, why should not the world know it and we have the advantage of it?"  These remarks have been made to us repeatedly.  But at no time has the Spirit seemed to indicate that this should be done.  We have waited for the Lord to move in the matter; and on the 24th of September, President Woodruff made up his mind that he would write something, and he had the spirit of it.  He had prayed about it and had besought God repeatedly to show him what to do.  At that time the Spirit came upon him, and the document that has been read in your hearing was the result.   I know that it was right, much as it has gone against the grain with me in many respects, because many of you know the contest we have had upon this point.  But when God speaks, and when God makes known His mind and will, I hope that I and all Latter-day Saints will bow in submission to it.  When that document was prepared it was submitted.  But, as is said in this motion that has been made, President Woodruff is the only man upon the earth who holds the keys of the sealing power.  These Apostles all around me have all the same authority that he has.  We are all ordained with the same ordination.  We all have had the same keys and the same powers bestowed upon us.  But there is an order in the Church of God, and that order is that there is only one man at a time on the earth who holds the keys of sealing, and that man is the President of the Church, now Wilford Woodruff.  Therefore, he signed that document himself.  Some have wondered and said, "Why didn't his Counselors sign?  Why didn't others sign?"  Well, I give you the reason--because he is the only man on the earth that has this right, and he exercised it, and he did this with the approval of all of us to whom the matter was submitted, after he had made up his mind, and we sustained it; for we had made it a subject of prayer also, that God would direct us.

                There never was a time in this Church when I believe the leading men of this Church have endeavored to live nearer to God, because they have seen the path in which we walked environed with difficulties, beset with all manner of snares, and we have had the responsibility resting upon us of your salvation, to a certain extent.  God has chosen us, not we ourselves, to be the shepherds of His flock.  We have not sought this responsibility.  You know Wilford Woodruff too well to believe that he would seek such an office as he now fills.  I trust you know the rest of us sufficiently to believe the same concerning us.  I have shrunk from the Apostleship.  I have shrunk from being a member of the First Presidency.  I felt that if I could get my salvation in any other way, I prayed God that He would give it to me, after He revealed to me that I would be an Apostle, when I was comparatively a child; and I have had that feeling ever since.  These Apostles, all of them, feel the responsibility which rests upon them as leaders of the people, God having made us, in His providence, your shepherds.  We feel that the flock is in our charge, and if any harm befall this flock through us, we will have to answer for it in the day of the Lord Jesus; we shall have to stand and render an account of that which has been entrusted to us; and if we are faithless, and careless, and do not live so as to have the word of God continually with us and know His mind and will, then our condemnation will be sure and certain, and we cannot escape it.  But you are our witnesses as to whether God is with us or not, as well as the Holy Ghost.  You have received, and it is your privilege to receive, the testimony of Jesus Christ as to whether these men who stand at your head are the servants of God, whom God has chosen, and through whom God gives instructions to His people.  You know it, because the testimony of the Spirit is with you, and the Spirit of God burns in your bosoms when you hear the word of God declared by these servants, and there is a testimony living in your hearts concerning it.

                Now, realizing the full responsibility of this, this action has been taken.  Will it try many of the Saints?  Perhaps it will; and perhaps it will try those who have not obeyed this law as much as any others in the Church.    But all that we can say to you is that which we repeatedly say to you—go unto God yourselves, if you are tried over this and cannot see its purpose; go to your secret chambers and ask God and plead with Him, in the name of Jesus, to give you a testimony as He has given it to us, and I promise you that you will not come away empty, nor dissatisfied; you will have a testimony, and light will be poured out upon you, and you will see things that perhaps you cannot see and understand at the present time.

                I pray God to bless all of you, my brethren and sisters; to fill you with His Holy Spirit; to keep you in the path of exaltation which He has marked out for us; to be with us on the right hand and on the left in our future as He has been in the past.

                Before I sit down I wish to call attention to one remarkable thing, and it may be an evidence to you that the devil is not pleased with what we have done.  It is seldom I have seen so many lies, and such flagrant, outrageous lies told about the Latter-day Saints as I have quite recently.  I have not time to read the papers, but I have happened to pick up two or three papers and glance at them, and the most infernal (pardon me for using that expression) lies ever framed are told.  It seems as though the devil is mad every way.  "Now," says he, "they are going to take advantage of this, and I am determined they shall have no benefit of it; I will fill the earth with lies concerning them, and neutralize this declaration of President Woodruff's."  And you will see in all the papers everything that can be said to neutralize the effect of this.  To me it is pretty good evidence that the devil is not pleased with what we are doing.  When we kept silence concerning this, then we were a very mean and bad people; and now that we have broken the silence and made public our position, why, we are wicked in other directions, and no credence can be attached to anything that we say.  You may know by this that his satanic majesty is not pleased with our action.  I hope he never will be.

I want to say to all Israel that the step which I have taken in issuing this manifesto has not been done without earnest prayer before the Lord.  I am about to go into the spirit world, like other men of my age.  I expect to meet the face of my Heavenly Father--the Father of my spirit; I expect to meet the face of Joseph Smith, of Brigham Young, of John Taylor, and of the Apostles, and for me to have taken a stand in anything which is not pleasing in the sight of God, or before the heavens, I would rather have gone out and been shot.  My life is no better than other men's.  I am not ignorant of the feelings that have been engendered through the course I have pursued.  But I have done my duty, and the nation of which we form a part must be responsible for that which has been done in relation to this principle. President Wilford Woodruff, Oct. 6th, 1890

LIFE SKETCH OF JACKSON TED JESSOP

AT HIS FUNERAL SERVICE, 03 JULY 2002

Ted Jessop was a child of destiny.  The doctors had told his mother that she could not have any other children.  She made a promise to the Lord and she conceived Ted, who never knew what she promised to the Lord.  He grew up with many family members; I’d like to mention Penny Behunin was his cousin and his best childhood friend.  She was always smarter and had better ideas.  Ted Jessop always wanted to be a cowboy; he had the whole outfit, except for his boots—he’d wear his mother’s high-heeled shoes.  His Uncle Wallace, after World War II went and bought him a pair of boots.  He told me he would have still wore boots in his old age, but his feet were too delicate. 

When he was a young man in the Ward, in the Mormon Church, the Bishopric sits behind the podium, and they had some youth back there, too.  He was joking around one day and the Bishop called him over to sit next to him.  He got up and had Ted sit in his chair; he looked out in the audience and his dad was sitting like this (he gestured with his face and hands.)  The Bishop never reprimanded him; he whispered in his ear, he said, “You’ll sit in this position one day—you need to start acting the part.”

His father had a great impact on him—when he died, he was fourteen years old.  One-on-one, his dad would teach him old Mormon doctrine teachings.  He thought everybody in the Church believed that way—things like this planet is made up of seven other planets that didn’t live the law, and other things, too.

He went to work as an apprentice butcher at Don’s Market in California.  He would go to school, then he’d work thirty-six hours a week.  He loved his career as a butcher for twenty-five years.  He said when he graduated from high school, it was like a vacation, then he had to work forty hours a week.

I’d like to mention one of the counselors in his Bishopric—I don’t recall his name.  The men of the Ward treated Ted like a son, and yet like a man, because he was working like a man.  He told me that this Bishop Counselor was his Home Teaching companion—that my dad was companion to him—the counselor told him that he had a medical condition and that he had not been intimate with his wife for three years because of his condition.  Ted went and told his mother and she said that, “Brother so-and-so lived his religion.”

He graduated from Earl Warren High School in 1960.  He was endowed in the Los Angeles Temple; there was a brother there that prophesied to him, he said, “Where you are going on a mission, you’re going to see great evidences of the Book of Mormon, but you’ll still have to do a lot of talking to convert people there,” and his inclination was to tell the man, “I’m not going where the pyramids and the great evidences are, I’ve been called to Northern Mexico,” but he restrained himself, because he felt the Spirit and he went all throughout Mexico, even from Arizona to the Yucatan under four Mission Presidents.  He progressed and was naturally a leader; he was a Zone Leader and Assistant to at least to one of the Presidents.  He mastered the Spanish language like Brother Paul Thompson here, and he had many spiritual experiences.

I’m cutting my talk short, but one I’d like to mention is that he was teaching a family and there were Fundamentalist Missionaries teaching the same family.  Well, they arranged—I guess—for a debate for both sets of missionaries to be there at the same time.  My dad did a beautiful job of defending the position of the Church.  One of the Fundamentalist Missionaries looked my dad in the eye and said, “I don’t know how or when, but one day you’re going to be with us.”

He met a missionary of great renown, who could get into every door he knocked on.  My dad went with him to see if this was true, and he told me it was true: Every door he knocked on, he got in the door—even if he had to stick his foot in the door.  This man would become his brother-in-law, Eliseo Lopez.  Eliseo introduced my father to my mother and they were married in the Mesa Temple June 6^th, 1964.

They lived in Los Angeles a short time, then they moved to Utah.  Our Uncle Jim was a great influence to him—he would ask him questions on Mormon doctrine, and my dad would study—he’d go to the BYU library trying to prove Uncle Jim wrong.  There were certain Mormon doctrines, like the Adam-God doctrine, that Adam is our Father in Heaven; like that Celestial Plural Marriage is essential today.  It was a great inner conflict.

He met with several General Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—one of them prophesied to him, and it buzzed around the family, he said that, “One day, he’d be an apostle.”

He started several businesses—he was an entrepreneur.  With one of them, he was embezzled of his life’s savings and another one, his competitors shut him down.  They say he wasn’t a businessman, but I was there and I saw the things that happened.  At one of our businesses in Cedar City, Utah, there would be different missionaries from different Mormon Fundamentalist groups—one of his names was Robert LeFevre.

When I saw Robert’s family excommunicated, his whole family—not just Robert—it scared him.  The Stake President asked him a question that was at the core of his heart.  He said, “Do you believe Spencer W. Kimball holds the keys?”

My dad looked at him and said, “I don’t know of anyone else, do you?”  So the Stake President backed off.

As a family, we moved to Casa Grande, Arizona—he worked for a variety of jobs, he worked for the handicaps, whom he genuinely loved.  He worked for the Central Arizona Association of Governments and for Gila County, under the Job Developer Program.   He became semi-active in the Mormon Church—he did this intentionally to not cause any problems, because he knew that he believed differently in the old Mormon doctrine.  So he turned almost full-time to Pit-bull dogs and in those circles, he is very renowned—he had champion Mountain Boy, champion Campecino, and champion Cain, and he understood that pastime well.

I made one phone call to let that group know, and all I had to do was make one phone call and I know that everybody in that world knows about it.  He used to say it perplexed him how society could look down upon two dogs fighting, and yet accept human lives to be taken in the form of abortions.  What he really liked about the dogs is their gameness; their tenacity—that they don’t quite.  They never give up.  That’s what he admired about them.  He had horses, and we’ve always been kind of farm people—periodically throughout our lives, we’ve had different animals.

In Casa Grande he told me, “I’ve been blessed with many tolerant Bishops and Stake Presidents, but I was finally blessed with one who wasn’t tolerant.”  He was excommunicated in 1989 for his beliefs in Plural Marriage, the Adam-God doctrine and for some other things.

His Bishop came to the door the next day and said, “I invite you to take off your garments.”  And if you knew Ted, he said, “I went to bed a Mormon and woke up a Mormon—I’m not going to take them off.”

He would go out in the desert and pray and yearn to see those who would prophesy.  He held early morning devotionals and would hold sacrament meetings (in his home).  We heard about a group of Fundamentalists in Phoenix and went to meet with them, and there we met two men who would change our lives: Bill Baird and Joe Thompson.

A couple of my family members had moved to Salt Lake already—I was planning on moving, and the rest of the family decided to move.  In November of ’91, he was working for Salt Lake County and we became convinced—my father and mother first—that there was Priesthood within a group of Fundamentalists and started attending their meetings.  There, his prayers were answered and Bill Baird would constantly prophesy to him—my dad said almost every time they met.  One of the things he told him, was that the Group was only ten years behind the Church in changes.

In the Fall of ’92 Bill Baird and my dad visited his father-in-law, Bernardo Lopez—shortly thereafter, my grandfather and Bill Baird died.

There were some things that happened within this group—there were some changes and Joe Thompson was basically excommunicated, and Mel Sullivan defended Joe Thompson on the Principle of the Oath of Brotherhood.

My dad moved back to Mesa, and worked for the City of Phoenix, then back to Gila County again.  In the meantime, he met with Joe Thompson and received all the blessings that are possible under the hands of another man, in Mormonism, what that means is that you have to have the Savior ratify that.

In December of ’95, our family—we moved out here in Concho, Arizona—we had some specific goals in mind and it’s been a pioneer-like experience.

He married Emma Gisela Baltierra on July 4^th, 1997.

Some of his work that he’s left behind, he’s translated some books into Spanish.  He was Editor of a quarterly magazine, Truth Never Changes.  He was a scholar of Mormonism, in both doctrine and history.  He was also familiar with fundamentalism and he built a chapel.

In the last year and a half, he’s worked with Realty Executives.  I know my remarks are a little long—I’ve not even covered all the things I would have liked to have covered.  He would say some things, he would say, “I’m just a Mormon—that’s all I am.”  He’d say, “People perceive me as having changed, that my religion has changed—all I have ever been is a Mormon boy.”

Sometimes you can define a man by what he was not: He was not a liar or a cheat, he was not a womanizer.  Another one of his quotes that he said, “I love my country, but I don’t trust my government.”

You honored us by attending.  This is who we are.  I wasn’t going to pull any punches for Ted Jessop’s funeral—these are intimate things of his life and his family.  This is the very core of Ted Jessop, and I have focused on the religious aspect.  Often people would misjudge him and they’d just see the jovial fat man, but at his heart, he had the heart of a lion, and if he thought something was right, you’d see the lion come out.  He was one of those men that walked with no fear in his life.  I am honored to be his son; I’m the weak version of Ted Jessop.  I want to do better so that I can honor the memory of my father.

Thank you for coming.

A LETTER

December 20, 1991
Salt Lake City, Utah

My Dear Wife and Children,

It is with sober thought that I send these few thoughts to you at this time.  It could seem strange or different to you that I address you all in this manner, but I feel the need to communicate to you at this time.  So many things have transpired in the last few years that I want to take time to let you know my feelings and the things in my heart.

While at Brigham Young University I began to delve into Mormon doctrine in a very deep way.  Though the Church would constantly say not seek these things out, my heart kept saying, Why not?  I formed lists of questions and then proceeded to seek the answers to these questions.

I found some remarkable results.  I caught the modern leaders in lies, or cover-ups.  I didn’t intend to find this answer, or in another way I wasn’t trying to disprove the official position.  The exact opposite is the truth.  I was trying to find why the Church was correct in its position.  Oh, how can I tell any of you the terrible anguish I felt in finding time after time that there have been cover-ups, and falsification; all of this just sickened my soul.

The years of rationalization, of seeking ways to stay in the Church, trying desperately to cling to what I had been taught was truth.  I felt so alone, no one seemed to comprehend.  I guess I wasn’t as faithful as I should have been, but I was struggling inside with an internal conflict.  If I move forward, I felt that I would lose my family, my mother, my sister, all that I have treasured in life.

I look back at the time I spent running from that which I knew in my soul was the truth, is a source of regret to me.  Yet I cannot change that and I guess the Lord knew that I needed that time to find peace in my soul.  Another source of conflict to me was which of all the groups was the correct one?

In this also, I wish that I had done these different; I allowed myself to be persuaded by what seems to be right, rather than by taking up the Spirit as my guide.  I would like to define what my life’s experiences has taught me you can trust the Spirit.  God will lead by the Spirit if we will allow it to direct us.  A good woman will follow if a man will lead in righteousness instead of trying to drive.  John Taylor bestowed keys to the council in 1886.  Those keys were conferred upon Joseph Musser.  Brother Musser in turn bestowed those keys to Rulon Allred.  Brother Owen has then today.  Brother Woolley was carried to Yucatan where Brother Joseph Smith has a posterity.

King David will yet appear in a future dawning to take his place.  I have a great desire to endeavor to keep the Lord’s commandments.  I honestly can say that I feel that he is guiding our path and taking control of the course of events.  My desire is to submit to the Lord, by being obedient to His Spirit.  To sustain Brother Owen and the Priesthood Council.  To spend the time I have remaining on earth in service to my family.  How can I make you know that you are the most important things in my life?  Instead of getting another business or anything else, I want to serve God and make your lives meaningful.  The Gospel is my birth-right.  So it is yours also.  The Priesthood is upon the earth.  I know that we are in an out-of-order condition; nevertheless God has left the keys here and the Council has them.  This is my gift to you…may you find worth or value in it.

Blessings to you,

Jackson Ted  Jessop

The Vision of Destruction by John Taylor

I went to bed at my usual hour, half past nine o'clock. I had been reading the Revelations in the French language. My mind was calm, more so than usual if that were possible to be so. I composed myself for sleep, but could not sleep. I felt a strange stupor come over me and I apparently became partially unconscious. Still I was not asleep nor awake, but had a strange, far-away dreamy feeling.

The first thing I recognized was that I was in the Tabernacle at Ogden,

Utah, sitting on the back seat in the corner for fear they would call on me to preach, which, after singing the second song, they did by calling me to the stand. I arose to speak and said that I did not know that I had anything special to say except to bear my testimony of the truth of this latter-day work, when all at once it seemed I was lifted out of myself. And I said, "Yes, I have something to say, it is this: Some of my brethren present have been asking me, 'What is coming to pass? What is the wind blowing up?' I will answer you right here what is coming to pass shortly."

Then I was immediately in Salt Lake City wandering about the streets.

In all parts of the city and upon the door of every house, I saw a badge of mourning and I could not find a house but what was in mourning. I passed my own home and saw the same signs there. And I asked the question, "Is that me who is dead?" Something gave me the answer, "No."

It seemed strange to me that I saw no person on the streets in my wandering about through the city. They seemed to be in their houses with their sick and dead. I saw no funeral processions or anything of that kind, but the city looked very still and quiet as if the people were praying. It seemed as though the people had control over the disease.

Whatever it was, I do not know. That was not shown to me.

I then looked in all directions over the territory, east, west, north and south, and found the same mourning in every place throughout the land.

The next I knew I was just this side of Omaha. It seemed as though I was above the earth looking down upon it as I passed along on my way east. I saw the roads full of people, principally women, with just what they could carry in bundles on their backs, traveling to the mountains on foot. And I wondered how they would get there with nothing but a small pack on their backs. It was remarkable to me that there were so few men among them. It did not seem as though train cars were running; the rails looked rusty and the roads abandoned. Indeed, I have no conception of how I traveled myself as I looked down upon the people.

I continued east through Omaha and Council Bluffs, which were full of disease, and women were everywhere. The states of Missouri and Illinois were in turmoil and strife. Men were killing one another, and women joined in the fighting. Family against family were cutting each other to pieces in the most horrible manner imaginable.

The next I saw was Washington, D.C., and I found the city a desolation.

The White House was empty and the Halls of Congress likewise.

Everything was in ruin and the people seemed to have fled from the city and left it to take care of itself.

I was next in the city of Baltimore, in the square where the monument of

1812 stands in front of the St. Charles and other hotels. And at the hotels, the dead were everywhere. I saw their bodies piled up, so as to fill the square. I saw women cut the throats of their own children for the sake of their blood, which they drank. I saw them suck it from their veins to quench their own thirst and then lie down in the streets and die.

The waters of Chesapeake River and of the city and the Chesapeake Bay were so stagnant, and such a stench arose from them on account of the

putrification of the dead carcasses in them, that the very smell carried death with it.

And that was singular again. I saw no men, except they were dead, lying in the streets. There were but very few women, and they were crazy and mad, and in a dying condition. Everywhere I went I beheld the same all over the city. It was horrible beyond description to behold.

I thought this must be the end, but not so. Seemingly in an instant I was in Philadelphia, and there, as in Baltimore, everything was still.

No living soul was to be seen to greet me. It seemed as though the whole city was without inhabitants. In Arch and Chestnut streets, and in fact, everywhere I looked the putrefaction of the dead bodies created such a stench that it was impossible for any creature to remain alive, nor did

I see any living thing in the city.

I next found myself on Broadway in New York. And there it seemed as if the people had done their best, all they could do, to overcome the disease. But, in wandering down Broadway, I saw the bodies of beautiful women lying, some stone dead, and others in a dying condition, on the sidewalks. I saw men crawl out of the cellars and violate the persons of some that were alive, then kill them and rob their dead bodies of the valuables they had on them. And then, before they could return to their coverts in the cellars, they themselves would roll over a time or two and die in agony.

On some of the back streets I saw mothers kill their own offspring and eat their raw flesh, and then in a few minutes die themselves. And wherever I looked or went, I saw the same scenes of horror and desolation, rapine and death. No horses, nor carriages, nor omnibuses, nor streetcars. Nothing but death and destruction everywhere.

I then went to the Grand Central Park, and looking back, I saw a fire start. And just at that moment a mighty east wind sprang up and carried the flames west over the great city. And it burned until there was not a single building left standing whole, even down to the water's edge and wharfs. And the shipping all seemed to be burned and swallowed up in common destruction. Nothing was left but a desolation where a great city stood a short time before. The stench from the bodies that were burning was so great that it was carried a great distance across the Hudson River and Bay. And thus it spread disease and death wherever the fumes penetrated.

I cannot paint in words the horrors that seemed to encompass me around about, for me it was beyond description or thought of man to conceive.

I supposed this was the end, but I was given to understand that the same horrors that were here were being enacted all over the country, east, west, north, and south, that few were left alive, still there were some.

Immediately after, I seemed to be standing on the left bank of the Missouri River, opposite the city of Independence, but I saw no city. I saw the whole states of Illinois and Missouri and part of Iowa were a complete wilderness of desert with no living human being there in them.

I then saw a short distance from the river, twelve men draped in the robes of the Temple, standing in a square, or nearly so. I understood it to represent the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem. And they, with uplifted hands, were consecrating the ground and laying the cornerstone of the Temple.

And while they were thus employed, I saw myriads of angels hovering over them and around about them. And I heard the angels singing the most beautiful heavenly music. The words were: "Now is established the Kingdom of God and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever! And the Kingdom shall never be thrown down, for the Saints have overcome!"

And I saw people coming from the river and from distant places to help build the Temple. And it seemed as though there were hosts of angels, all helping to bring material for the construction of the Temple. And I saw some come who wore their temple robes to help build the Temple and the city, and all the time I saw that the great pillar of cloud continued to hover over the place.

Instantly, I found myself in the Ogden Tabernacle, yet I could see the building going on, and I got quite animated in calling upon the people in the Tabernacle to listen to the beautiful strains of music that the angels were singing. I called to them to look at the angels, as the building seemed to be filled with them, and they were singing the same words that I heard before: "Now is the Kingdom of our God and His Christ established forever and ever!" And then a voice said, "Now shall come to pass that which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet, that '[In that day,] seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, [We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.]'" (Isaiah 4:1)

At this time I seemed to stagger back from the pulpit and F. D. Richards and someone else caught me and prevented me from falling, when I requested Brother Richards to apologize to the audience for me because I stopped so abruptly, and tell them I had not fainted, but was exhausted.

I rolled over on my bed and heard the City Hall clock strike twelve o'clock. The vision had occurred between 9:30 P.M. and midnight.

(Wilford Woodruff Journal, June 15, 1878; Deseret Evening News, November 17, 1880 in an article by Joseph F. Smith.)

JOSEPH WHITE MUSSER

               

"O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day." (D&C)

                The life of Joseph W. Musser was a fulfillment of this scripture, for he gave his life to God and sought none other gifts than those of the Spirit. Nourishing the spirit of prayer and humility, Joseph cultivated a friendship with God, and served Him with full purpose of heart.

                Joseph W. Musser joins our group of contemporary witnesses as an outstanding example of a servant of God. He was born March 8, 1872, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Amos Milton Musser, Assistant Church Historian and pillar of the Church, and Mary Elizabeth White, first plural wife to Brother Musser.

                Joseph White Musser was born and grew to manhood at a time when the Church was at war with the government of the United States. Plural marriage had been declared a crime, and the most respected men in Mormondom were being hunted down and cast into prison. Joseph often used to relate to his friends his experiences of taking plural wives from one house to another to evade the federal officers. He saw his father, with whom Joseph's life was closely inter-woven, often driven into hiding. It was under this environment that young Joseph was raised. He had at least met, if not personally known, every Church president except the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was a man of great refinement, knowledge and experience. 

We name Brother Musser as a unique witness especially because of his vantage point of close association with the Church leaders. He knew the inner workings of that body of men.

                Referring to his religious background and the reasons for his acceptance of the principle of plural marriage, he stated: "I had been nurtured in the Patriarchal Law. I believe it earnestly. It seemed to me I had met Father Abraham and been taught at his knees. He had many wives and concubines. Isaac, the son of Sarah, was Abraham's heir apparent, though not his first born, Ishmael coming before him.

                "Early in life I became familiar with the Lord's revelations to His Prophet, Joseph Smith, on the subject of marriage. My father had four wives to my knowledge; though one, the first, I never knew in mortality.  She died before my birth.   My mother was his first plural wife, and her faith and loyalty were, to my mind, perfect.

                "Coming from such an ancestry and being raised in a polygamous atmosphere, by parents devoted to their religious conceptions, I naturally inherited and imbibed a strong spiritual nature. From early youth I devoted my time to the Church. I believed intensely in the mission of Joseph Smith, and were it possible to become fanatical in accepting the decrees of the Almighty, I have been fanatically religious, but not obdurate toward the religion and actions of others nor offensively dogmatic.

                Personally, I was brought up in the most puritanical fashion with reference to morality. To lose one's virtue was an offense in the eyes of God next to murder--the shedding of innocent blood. To take advantage of a girl, not one's wife, was a terrible act. I believed this doctrine and I lived it completely--and I still believe it."

                As to his recollection of meeting the early presidents of the Church, he often related his experience of seeing President Brigham Young as he lay in his coffin; also that he vaguely remembered seeing him before his death. Later when old enough to remember and understand, his father invited him to attend a meeting of the "Grand Council of the Kingdom of God." He remembered this meeting, of how armed guards admitted the invited guests. His father, Amos Milton Musser, being a member of this "Grand Council," was free to invite him to attend. At this meeting he was introduced to President John Taylor and heard him speak.

                He remembered the placing of the capstone on the Salt Lake Temple. He said Apostle Lorenzo Snow led the open air congregation in the `Hosanna Shout.' A week later, April 13, 1892, he ascended the east middle tower of the Temple and touched the feet of the golden Angel Moroni.

                Joseph W. Musser's schooling opportunities in those early days were minimal, though through self-teaching and the generous application of sheer will and determination, he became an efficient court stenographer and developed valuable knowledge in the field of law.

                At the age of 20, Joseph was married for time and all eternity in the Logan Temple.  Three years later, in 1895, he received a call from President Woodruff to fill a mission to the Southern States. He was set apart by Apostles Brigham Young, Jr., Heber J. Grant and John W. Taylor.  He filled his mission without purse or scrip.

                While serving on his mission and in concern over the health of his firstborn, a son, he inquired of the Lord as to the welfare of his child.  The Lord gave him a dream in which he visited his home and saw his child in improved health, with reassurances given him from his beloved wife.  Brother Musser praised the Lord for His kindness in answer to prayer.

                In 1899, now home from his mission, a wonderful and marvelous experience came to him, which was destined to change the course of his life for time and all eternity. Speaking of this incident, he recorded the following in his Journal:

                "Receiving a written invitation from President Lorenzo Snow, to receive my `Higher Anointings' in the Temple, my wife and I, with four other couples repaired to the Temple on Thanksgiving morning, November 1899, where the most glorious blessings known to man were sealed upon us.  We literally spent a few hours as in heaven 'mid the glorious calm and quiet of our holy surroundings. We were near the Lord and Oh! how happy! I was only 27 years of age and wondered why so young a person should be so favored, for we were being sealed with the `Holy Spirit of Promise.'"

                Following on the heels of this glorious blessing, word came from President Lorenzo Snow which was of a shocking nature. Explaining the situation, Brother Joseph gave the following account:

                "When the Wilford Woodruff Manifesto was adopted (October 1890), I was not married. I had been promised in the name of the Lord, by my Stake President, some days after the Manifesto was published, that I would yet enter the law. I believed it. And later, while courting my young lady, I told her I expected to enter that law of marriage, that when the time came I would take it up with her and we would make the selection of other wives together. Although I was taking her out of a plural family, she took the matter cooly, but she was true to her promise on that occasion.

                "In December 1899, after receiving my `Second Blessings,' a messenger came to me from President Snow, stating I had been selected to enter plural marriage and to help keep the principle alive. Apprising my wife of the situation, we both entered into prayer for guidance. At this time I hadn't the slightest idea whom to approach. The `Manifesto' had been issued, and word had gone out from Bishops and Stake Presidencies that a definite stop had been put to the practice. Those assuming to enter the principle would be `handled.' I was placed in a peculiar situation.  God's Prophet told me to accept the law and keep it alive. His subordinates said if I did so, they would cut me off the Church. I could not argue with them and divulge the source of my authority. It was a time when every man was in honor bound to carry his own burdens and yet live every law of the Gospel.

                "In answer to prayer, Mary Caroline Hill, a daughter of William Hood Hill, a member of the Mill Creek Ward Bishopric, came within our horizon. She was a beautiful young lady, about 25 years of age; had refused many proposals--had been waiting for the right man. Her father had done time, presumably with my father, in the penitentiary for polygamous living. I was astounded, when asking Brother Hill for the hand of his daughter, to be flatly refused. He said it could not be done; they were handling people for proposing it. I was greatly taken back. I had been at his home, with other Stake and General Officers of the Church on numerous occasions and eaten at his table. I rather took it for granted that he knew my hidden motive in being there so often and thought he was in harmony with it.

                "I said, `Well, Brother Hill, it can be done, and now the responsibility is upon you. Your daughter is agreeable to the situation.'  

"The conversation took place in the office where I was employed, in town. He left and in about one half or three quarters of an hour he returned and assured me it was all right and that I might go ahead.  Astonished and yet grateful, I asked what had happened to change his mind so quickly. He said after leaving me he `bumped into Apostles John Henry Smith and M. F. Cowley'; he put the question to them. They assured him it was all right and advised him to return to me and give his consent to the marriage.  Thus Mary entered into my family in the year 1901."

                The marriage was sealed by an Apostle, a member of the Quorum of Twelve, in good standing.

                Joseph's father, having heard of his son embracing the law, caused him much sorrow, he supposing that his son had acted without the consent of the authorities. In order to soothe his feelings, the presiding authorities of this most honorable "conspiracy" took A. M. Musser into their confidence and revealed to him the truth. His heart leaped for joy, and embracing his son Joseph, he exclaimed, "God bless you, my boy, God bless you." Shortly before his death, Joseph's father had inscribed on his gold watch a beautiful tribute to his son, and presented the watch to him.  Engraved on the watch are the following words: "St. Joseph W. Musser—In admiration of your devotion to a divine principle of the gospel.  Father--Zion, May 20th, 1909." Brother Joseph always considered the watch one of his priceless earthly possessions.

                Later, under the direction of President Joseph F. Smith, this man again responded to the holy commandment and had his third wife, Ellis Shipp, sealed to him. Again in the 1930's under the direction of the Priesthood, he had another wife sealed into his family.

                Thus, Joseph W. Musser, at the age of 27, was introduced to the holy principle of Celestial Plural Marriage and commanded to embrace the same.  This commandment came from God, and he was duly warned that if he did not respond, he would lose every former blessing he had received in the Priesthood. He related that he was somewhat slow in obtaining his second wife. Finally he was approached by President John Henry Smith and was told that if he did not embrace the principle soon, he would lose every blessing he had ever received in the Church. He was commanded.

                Joseph recorded in his Journal: "Men other than Brother Ivins were set apart to work in other parts of the country. Since the Church is subservient to the Priesthood, any action taken by it against those entering the law is null and void. A man or woman cannot properly be cut off the Church for keeping a law of God, for the Church belongs to God and God cannot act a lie and remain God."

                He explained the situation confronting him: "I was resisting the Church, though I love its institutions. I had always taught my children to follow the Church, and yet I now was resisting it. My blessed children could not understand my position, nor can I blame them, neither could I explain to them the full picture any faster than they were prepared to receive it." Joseph received, because of his faithfulness, further instruction and commission:

                "In the year 1915, an Apostle conferred upon me the sealing power of Elijah, with instructions to see that plural marriage shall not die out. President Snow had said I must not only enter the law, but must help keep it alive. This then was the next step in enabling me to help keep it alive. I have tried to be faithful to my trust."

                Here, then, Joseph W. Musser found himself in a peculiar situation.   He was the husband of three wives. He had been commanded to take the last two of these women with full knowledge that he was breaking the law of the land and the rule of the Church. Those members of the Church who heard of his action branded it as adulterous, just as they do today. Those who conspired to have him break the law, made it plain to him that he could not depend on them for comfort or relief. Indeed, President Joseph F. Smith often passed him on the street without a sign of recognition. Later under the protection of darkness, this same man would step from the shadows, and with a friendly handclasp and a pat on the back, would exclaim: "God bless you, brother Joseph, keep the good work up!"

                Joseph felt the persecutions rage around him and his family. He was spoken evilly of and had a difficult time making a living. In 1909, the Salt Lake Tribune selected him as an object lesson, which was also a cover to goad the leaders of the Church for their own similar actions.

                The headlines read: "JOE MUSSER HAS NOW TAKEN NO. 3--High Councilor of Granite Stake Enters Into New Polygamy in Salt Lake:

                "Joseph W. Musser is chief clerk and assistant secretary of the Utah Light & Railway company. His father is assistant historian and political mouthpiece of the Church. He is himself a high ecclesiast in the church, though but about 40 years of age. He is high councilor of Granite stake and as such passes on the differences between the Saints of his stake and his decisions are final, save that an appeal may be taken to the first presidency.

                "The president of Granite stake, Frank Y. Taylor, and his second counselor, John M. Cannon, are publicly known to have recently contracted plural marriages. So have the Sunday School Superintendent and others of this stake. In fact, Granite stake is the hotbed of new polygamy, and Forestdale, which is a part of the stake, is oftimes spoken of as `Polygamyville,' inasmuch as it is a refuge of those who are violating the laws by `living their religion.'"

                The Tribune then goes on to name Brother Musser's wives and children and their home locations. The article continues:

                "This is the first expose' that has been made of Joseph W. Musser's new polygamy. He will not be punished for his violation of the law because he has the sanction of the teaching of the Church through the 132^nd chapter of the Doctrine and Covenants, and through the life of President Joseph F. Smith, who admits that he is living with five wives and who pleaded guilty to the charge of being the father of the last of thirteen illegitimate children, recently being fined therefor the measly sum of two hundred dollars!"

                It may have been because of pressures as a result of that article in the newspaper that Brother Musser was called before the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.   After a lengthy questioning session before that body, he wrote:  "The investigation along the lines it is being carried out, is unwarranted; the Quorum is not united, and such actions as these will tend to lose them their influence among the Saints .... My impressions were that the brethren are not actuated by the proper spirit."

                In 1929, another marvelous event came into Joseph W. Musser's life, for the Lord spoke again.

                "May 14, 1929, I was ordained a High Priest Apostle and a Patriarch to all the world, by a High Priest Apostle, and I was instructed to see that never a year passed that children were not born in the covenant of plural marriage. I was instructed to give patriarchal blessings to those applying for same, and who were denied access to a patriarch in the Church. My calling is essentially a Priesthood calling......

                Brother Joseph related that when the Anointed of the Lord ordained him to this higher calling that he used the following words: "I ordain you a Patriarch and Apostle to the Lord, Jesus Christ, and I confer upon you all the keys, power and authority, that I myself hold, together with the responsibilities and privileges attached thereto."

                After this ordination the Prophet said to Joseph, "Now you have all that I have."

                The individual thus ordaining him further instructed Brother Joseph that he had used the same phraseology that President Taylor had used to set him apart; and that President Taylor had informed him that Joseph Smith, the Prophet, used the same words in ordaining him (John Taylor); and that the Prophet had explained that Peter, James and John had used the same words when they ordained him to the Priesthood.

Interestingly, his ordination to the Apostleship partly fulfilled a blessing given to his mother, Mary White Musser, some years before. In that blessing she was promised that one of her sons would be ordained an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

                On November 9, 1930, his dear wife Mary passed away. The main speaker at her funeral was President J. Golden Kimball. Some of his remarks were written down:

                "I am here at the request of Brother Musser, his wife and children; and before going on with my regular remarks on this occasion I want to say this much--that I have known Brother Musser in Church and business activities for a good many years, and I know him to be an honest man, with great faith and trust in the Lord, and courage in the cause of truth.

                "Oh, I know we are supposed to say nothing about this thing--we are afraid to tell the truth; it isn't always wise to tell the whole truth, but I want to say that Brother Musser has been unjustly dealt with; he has been persecuted. The principle of polygamy is true. Of course the door is now closed. The Church does not sanction the practice now.   I was of that origin and I am proud of it. Brother Joseph is a better man than I am because I cannot help resenting injustice. Justice is all right, but I believe in the gospel of mercy, love, charity and patience. If this is not the truth there is not truth. Thank God the final judgment does not rest with man."

                Because of his background and nearness to the presiding authorities of the Church, Joseph Musser received much important information. Upon one occasion, his father approached him with one of Wilford Woodruff's Journals. His father pointed to the revelation of 1889, and requested his son to copy it, stating: "Someday it will be necessary for you to use this information." Years later in defense of the faith, Brother Joseph was able to produce this very valuable revelation. (See page 44)

                The anti-polygamy crusades of 1944 resulted in the imprisonment of Joseph, serving a sentence of seven months and then being placed on `two years' probation. He wrote in his journal:

                "My father preceded me to the penitentiary by some sixty years. I was then 13 years of age, he 55. In my youthful years, I regarded him an old man, and yet I was placed behind the bars at 73, and would have resented being called an old man, although the old timers there soon began to call me `Dad.' President Lorenzo Snow was 72 years of age when he was incarcerated. So far as I know I am the oldest man placed behind the bars among the Latter-day Saints for polygamous living. When I was ordained a High Priest Apostle in May 1929, it was done in response to a revelation of the Lord to the President of the Priesthood. Previous to this, however, I was given the Priesthood of Elijah with instructions, as I was informed from President Joseph F. Smith, to seal couples in celestial marriage."

                While in prison, Brother Joseph suffered an attack, which was perhaps the forerunner of his final illness. Being completely exhausted from years of work among the people, also having been the leading figure in the long legal battle, plus discomforts of the state penitentiary, all worked together against his health. He suffered a stroke in early 1949, and was finally released from this world March 29, 1954, at the age of 82. He was buried next to his father in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

                Joseph White Musser, aside from the personal effect he had for immense good in the lives of countless others, was responsible for the circulation of many publications, including many unpublished manuscripts of lasting worth. He held responsible positions in six different stakes in Zion, and preached the gospel in many of the States of the Union. He was in charge of the East India Mission, attending to that responsibility from his home. He traveled from Canada to Old Mexico because of his love for and devotion to the Lord and His gospel.

                Joseph W. Musser was a man of God. He received his errand from the Lord, and he devoted his life to it regardless of the cost. In his own words, as a stalwart witness in the latter days:

                "I entered the state of plural marriage after the issuance of the Manifesto; and I did so with the encouragement, advice and counsel of the majority of the members of the Quorum of Apostles, and with the blessings of the President of the Church. These facts cannot be gain said. The fact that I have been `handled' and `ostracized' for having done my duty as I was taught it, makes no difference to the case in hand. Indeed, I was told at the time by one having authority that this very thing might occur, but that it was my duty to live the law ....

                "I have championed Mormonism from every angle; have accepted the revelations of Joseph Smith on the subject of celestial and plural marriage--must I say it--even against the body of the Church, and in opposition to the laws of my country; and now I find myself expelled from the Church, and a virtual outcast from its functions and benefits. Strange, but true, and yet my heart is filled with gratitude for my wives and my 21 beautiful children. Oh!! how I praise God for His most wonderful blessings, and how grateful I am that the invitation came to me, as a young man, fifty years ago, to embrace the principle of plural marriage. I was assured it was of God and that His blessings would follow the law's acceptance.

                "As God answered the child Joseph's plea for wisdom and direction, so he is answering the prayers of the faithful today, many of them being led to accept the fulness of the gospel, including the Patriarchal order of marriage. These Saints uphold the authorities of the Church by their faith and prayers, so far as it is possible to do without a surrender of eternal life. They would like to remain with the organization and add their strength in building it up along permanently righteous lines, but when denied this blessed privilege they are resigned and bow to the inevitable, leaving their case in the hands of God, who will judge all flesh.

                "That truth will prevail is certain, but that it may find a speedy lodgment in the hearts of all who have the courage and the will to seek it, is the earnest prayer of your humble servant."

                A prayer, offered on New Year's Day, 1935, by Joseph W. Musser:

                "Dear Lord, continue to guide my footsteps. Help me to get my house in order; to teach Thy children the truth; to obtain the gift of faith and the spirit of meekness; help me to serve Thee in truth. Give unto me wisdom, and knowledge, love and charity. Help me to teach and guide my wives and children, and to bear up under every burden and obligation of life.

                "Let the balance of my mortal life be spent in the ministry, bringing souls unto Thee, and when I am released from this existence, let me continue such work of salvation until the end of all the eternities, could there be an end.

                "Father, I thank Thee for all my blessings and covenant anew with Thee to be more diligent and valiant in accomplishing my earthly mission.  Help me remain true and faithful."

* * * * *

                "O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day." (D.&C. 4:2)

                Such was the heart and life of Joseph White Musser, a latter-day witness to the work of the Lord.  (The Most Holy Principle, Volume IV, pp 100 – 110)

Recommended Sites 4thefamily.us (Open chat & polygamy & Mormon doctrine discussion) fullnessradio.acrobat.com/fullness/ (Internet broadcast Wednesdays 8pm MST.  Discussion of deeper mysteries of the Kingdom of God.) allofthegospel.com  (An in-depth website offering extensive Fundamentalist Mormon information and works) ogdenkraut.com (A website offering discourses from early Church leaders and books of several Gospel-related subjects)

 

Holiness

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To The  

Lord

TRUTH NEVER CHANGES
Volume 13, Number 09
July 2010