Transcription
Do the Expositor affidavits prove that Joseph Smith wrote DNC 132 on June 7th, 1844? Three affidavits implicating Joseph and Hyrum were printed in the first and only edition of the Expositor. William Law, Jane Law, and Austin Cowles all said that Joseph or Hyrum showed them a document about the doctrine of the plurality of wives.
Now, usually, I'd build up with some background, but we're going to fast forward straight to 1886. Wilhelm R. von Wadal, or Dr. W. A. Book about the Mormons and Joseph Smith, he included some stories and rumors about William Law and the Expositor and DNC 132. That year, William Law wrote this author three letters and sat down to do an interview with him.
First, he wanted to clear up that one of the stories that was included in the history, Joseph Smith proposing to Jane to be sealed to him, didn't actually happen. But second, he had something very important to say about the polygamy Revelation, or DNC 132, that he had included in his book. So, our star witness, William Law, even says that DNC 132 was not the same Revelation shown to him. It was much shorter. It only had to do with high priesthood and virgins and widows, and there was no theological introduction. The author says that this false Revelation had been altered after the fact to make it more plausible and to deceive people, just like many other Revelations.
So, if the polygamy Revelation was altered and added to after the time William Law saw it, who made the changes? Well, let's see what Joseph F. Smith told Charles Derry, as recorded in his autobiography. Phelps said that he wrote part of it. Also, that Brigham and Joseph wrote part of it, and that Clayton wrote part of it. While Clayton says he wrote all of it. Brigham says Phelps lies. Charles Derry decided that the Brites couldn't keep their story straight, and he joined the Rlus church.
So, if Joseph wrote part of it, then what part did he write? It is documented that on July 12th, 1843, Joseph Smith received a revelation on marriage. Four days later, on July 16th, Joseph preached all day at the temple lot. He preached on a revelation he received as an answer to the question about the levirate marriage in Luke 20. He taught that marriage could continue in the next life if the contract is made in view of eternity. Four scribes were taking notes that day, and they all took very consistent notes. He also taught that the fullness of this doctrine could not be revealed until the temple was completed, and it never was.
Now, these teachings do line up with verses 15-17 in DNC 132. So, sure, we can see that Joseph wrote these verses. Austin K. said that he heard Hyrum read this Revelation to the High Council. The problem is, there are no minute notes at all about this Revelation being read in the High Council meetings on the date they claimed this was read. William Marks was also present and teaching in the High Council meeting. This is problematic, though, because three weeks before Joseph's death, we know that William Marks had not been taught this doctrine. The testimony of William Marks is extremely consistent. Years later, he clarified and confirmed what he meant when he said that Joseph had been deceived. He was not mixed up in polygamy. He knew this, but he had been deceived by some of the elders in the church.
So, if DNC 132 was not the same document that William Law saw and that was read to the High Council, then what was? If you've seen my video called "Who Wrote DNC 132," you'll know that the writing style indicates that Brigham Young wrote it. In 1874, Brigham Young himself admitted that while on his mission, it was him who received the Revelation on polygamy. "While we were in England, I think the Lord manifested to me by visions and by his Spirit things that I did not then understand. I never opened my mouth to any person concerning them until I returned to Nauvoo. Joseph had never mentioned this. There had never been a thought about it in the church that I knew anything about at the time."
Brigham also admitted, "As to our institutions, we know we are right, and polygamy, which you object to, was not originally part of our system, but was adopted by us as a necessity." As after we came here to Utah, to many people, this was common knowledge, as was printed in this 1853 newspaper. It says, "Orson reports it to be a revelation given to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, July 12th, 1843, but which is in fact the production of one William Clayton, an English polygamist, written at the suggestion of a secret band of polygamists who were then in the church as a pretense of justification." This was still widely accepted in 1904. During the Reed Smoot hearings, Senator Borah of Michigan said in a speech, "In order to induce his followers more readily to accept this infamous doctrine, Brigham Young himself invoked the name of Joseph Smith, the Martyr, who many sincerely believed to be a true prophet, and ascribed him the reception of a revelation from the Almighty in 1843, commanding the Saints to take unto themselves a multiplicity of wives."
Joseph is still guilty because he called the Expositor a public nuisance and destroyed it. But if you read the Expositor, it's clear why it's a public nuisance. William Law, who wrote the majority of the Expositor articles, called for an unconditional repeal of the Nauvoo City Charter. He also advocated for unmediated disobedience. His reasoning behind this is not 100% crazy to me. The City Charter is what instated habeas corpus, which made it illegal for the state to extract or arrest people out of the city, meaning they could have their religious freedom in the city of Nauvoo, and Joseph couldn't be arrested in the city. But William Law pointed out that this is a huge problem because it was creating a magnet in Nauvoo where all the criminals would flock to because they couldn't get arrested. In fact, the majority of the Expositor are political arguments against Joseph. The mention of polygamy or morality only takes up 2% of the contents. Please notice that the motive of the Expositor is not to set a moral high ground. The Laws, Austin Cowles, and Higgs all had a documented history of adultery, sleeping with prostitutes and underaged girls. Morality was not their main problem with Joseph. The problem was political and financial reasons. That being said, they wanted to dismantle the City Charter so that Joseph could be arrested, and as mayor of the town, Joseph declared that a public nuisance.
Now, let's look at the discrepancies in the Revelation mentioned in the affidavits. Verse 132, he said that there was no theological introduction. But the theological introduction in DNC 132 explains that this Revelation came as an answer to a question about why God allowed his servants Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and Solomon to have many wives and concubines. This contradicts the historical account we have saying that the Revelation Joseph received on July 12th, 1843, came as an answer to the question about levirate marriage in Luke 20, which is not mentioned at all in DNC 132. William also said that the Revelation he saw restricted it to only virgins and widows. DNC 132 says nothing about widows, and it doesn't say that Joseph is only restricted to virgins. There are no accounts saying that Joseph taught a marriage principle related to Abraham, but we do have evidence of Brigham and Heber coercing women into polygamy, teaching them that it was like the days of Abraham, like Martha Brotherton.
So, logically, whoever wrote this theological introduction to DNC 132 is the same guy who had already been on record teaching women about plurality of wives according to the times of Abraham and who had already written a revelation talking about David and Solomon. After Joseph's death, they added these words from him to make it sound like something they'd heard before. And after Joseph's death, Brigham got together with his friends and created what we now know as DNC 132. For even more details, go to the link in my bio and watch the "132 Problems" podcast on "Exposing the Expositor."