DEC 1:0 OFFICIAL DECLARATION -- 1
DEC 1:1 To Whom It May Concern:
DEC 1:2 Press dispatches having been sent for political purposes, from Salt
Lake City, which have been widely published, to the effect that the Utah
Commission, in their recent report to the Secretary of the Interior, allege
that plural marriages are still being solemnized and that forty or more such
marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June or during the past
year, also that in public discourses the leaders of the Church have taught,
encouraged and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy--
DEC 1:3 I, therefore, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these
charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor
permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either
forty or any other number of plural marriages have during that period been
solemnized in our Temples or in any other place in the Territory.
DEC 1:4 One case has been reported, in which the parties allege that the
marriage was performed in the Endowment House, in Salt Lake City, in the
Spring of 1889, but I have been able to learn who performed the ceremony;
whatever was done in this matter was without my knowledge. In consequence of
this alleged occurrence the Endowment House was, by my instructions, taken
down without delay.
DEC 1:5 Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural
marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of
last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to
use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have
them do likewise.
DEC 1:6 There is nothing in my teachings to the Church or in those of my
associates, during the time specified, which can be reasonably construed to
inculcate or encourage polygamy; and when any Elder of the Church has used
language which appeared to convey any such teaching, he has been promptly
reproved. And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints
is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land.
DEC 1:7 WILFORD WOODRUFF President of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
DEC 1:8 President Lorenzo Snow offered the following:
DEC 1:9 "I move that, recognizing Wilford Woodruff as the President of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the only man on the earth at
the present time who holds the keys of the sealing ordinances, we consider
him fully authorized by virtue of his position to issue the Manifesto which
has been red in our hearing, and which is dated September 24th, 1890, and
that as a Church in General Conference assembled, we accept his declaration
concerning plural marriages as authoritative and binding." The vote to
sustain the foregoing motion was unanimous.
DEC 1:10 Salt Lake City, Utah, October 6, 1890
DEC 1:11 EXCERPTS FROM THREE ADDRESSES BY PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF
REGARDING THE MANIFESTO
DEC 1:12 The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as
President of the Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is
not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me
out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the
children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty.
(Sixty-first Semiannual General Conference of the Church, Monday, October 6,
1890, Salt Lake City, Utah. Reported in Deseret Evening News, October 11,
1890, p. 2.)
DEC 1:13 It matters not who lives or who dies, or who is called to lead this
Church, they have got to lead it by the inspiration of Almighty God. If they
do not do it that way, they cannot do it at all....
DEC 1:14 I have had some revelations of late, and very important ones to me,
and I will tell you what the Lord has said to me. Let me bring your minds to
what is termed the manifesto....
DEC 1:15 The Lord has told me to ask the Latter-day Saints a question, and He
also told me that if they would listen to what I said to them and answer the
question put to them, by the Spirit and power of God, they would all answer
alike, and they would all believe alike with regard to this matter.
DEC 1:16 The question is this: Which is the wisest course for the Latter-day
Saints to pursue--to continue to attempt to practice plural marriage, with
the laws of the nation against it and the opposition of sixty millions of
people, and at the cost of the confiscation and loss of all the Temples, and
the stopping of all the ordinances therein, both for the living and the dead,
and the imprisonment of the First Presidency and the Twelve and the heads of
all families in the Church, and the confiscation of personal property of the
people (all of which of themselves would stop the practice); or, after doing
that and suffering what we have through our adherence to this principle to
cease the practice and submit to the law, and through doing so leave the
Prophets, Apostles and fathers at home, so that they can instruct the people
and attend to the duties of the Church, and also leave the Temples in the
hands of the Saints, so that they can attend to the ordinances of the Gospel,
both for the living and the dead?
DEC 1:17 The Lord showed me by vision and revelation exactly what would take
place if we did not stop this practice. If we had not stopped it, you would
have had no use for ... any of the men in this temple at Logan; for all
ordinances would be stopped throughout the land of Zion. Confusion would
reign throughout Israel, and many men would be made prisoners. This trouble
would have come upon the whole Church, and we should have been compelled to
stop the practice. Now, the question is, whether is should be stopped in this
manner, or in the way the Lord has manifested to us, and leave our Prophets
and Apostles and fathers free men, and the temples in the hands of the
people, so that the dead may be redeemed. A large number has already been
delivered from the prison house in the spirit world by this people, and shall
the work go on or stop? This is the question I lay before the Latter-day
Saints. You have to judge for yourselves. I want you to answer it for
yourselves. I shall not answer it; but I say to you that that is exactly the
condition we as a people would have been in had we not taken the course we
have.
DEC 1:18 ...I saw exactly what would come to pass if there was not something
done. I have had this spirit upon me for a long time. But I want to say this:
I should have let all the temples go out of our hands; I should have gone to
prison myself, and let every other man go there, had not the God of heaven
commanded me to do what I did do; and when the hour came that I was commanded
to do that, it was all clear to me. I went before the Lord, and I wrote what
the Lord told me to write....
DEC 1:19 I leave this with you, for you to contemplate and consider. The Lord
is at work with us. (Cache Stake Conference, Logan, Utah, Sunday, November 1,
1891. Reported in Deseret Weekly, November 14, 1891.)
DEC 1:20 Now I will tell you what was manifested to me and what the Son of
God performed in this thing.... All these things would have come to pass, as
God Almighty lives, had not that Manifesto been given. Therefore, the Son of
God felt disposed to have that thing presented to the Church and to the world
for purposes in his own mind. The Lord had decreed the establishment of Zion.
He had decreed the finishing of this temple. He had decreed that the
salvation of the living and the dead should be given in these valleys of the
mountains. And Almighty God decreed that the Devil should not thwart it. If
you can understand that, that is a key to it. (From a discourse at the sixth
session of the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, April 1893. Typescript of
Dedicatory Services, Archives, Church Historical Department, Salt Lake City,
Utah.)
DEC 2:0 OFFICIAL DECLARATION -- 2
DEC 2:1 To Whom It May Concern:
DEC 2:2 On September 30, 1978, at the 148th Semiannual General Conference of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the following was presented
by President N. Eldon Tanner, First Counselor in the First Presidency of the
Church:
DEC 2:3 In early June of this year, the First Presidency announced that a
revelation had been received by President Spencer W. Kimball extending
priesthood and temple blessings to all worthy male members of the Church.
President Kimball has asked that I advise the conference that after he had
received this revelation, which came to him after extended meditation and
prayer in the sacred rooms of the holy temple, he presented it to his
counselors, who accepted it and approved it. It was then presented to the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who unanimously approved it, and was
subsequently presented to all other General Authorities, who likewise
approved it unanimously.
DEC 2:4 President Kimball has asked that I now read this letter:
DEC 2:5 June 8, 1978 To all general and local priesthood officers of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world:
DEC 2:6 Dear Brethren: As we have witnessed the expansion of the work of the
Lord over the earth, we have been grateful that people of many nations have
responded to the message of the restored gospel, and have joined the Church
in ever-increasing numbers. This, in turn, has inspired us with a desire to
extend to every worthy member of the Church all of the privileges and
blessings which the gospel affords.
DEC 2:7 Aware of the promises made by the prophets and presidents of the
Church who have preceded us that at some time, in God's eternal plan, all of
our brethren who are worthy may receive the priesthood, and witnessing the
faithfulness of those from whom the priesthood has been withheld, we have
pleaded long and earnestly in behalf of these, our faithful brethren,
spending many hour in the Upper Room of the Temple supplicating the Lord for
divine guidance.
DEC 2:8 He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the
long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may
receive the holy priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and
enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom, including the
blessings of the temple. Accordingly, all worthy members of the Church may be
ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color. Priesthood
leaders are instructed to follow the policy of carefully interviewing all
candidates for ordination to either the Aaronic or the Melchizedek Priesthood
to insure that they meet the established standards for worthiness.
DEC 2:9 We declare with soberness that the Lord has now made known his will
for the blessing of all his children throughout the earth who will hearken to
the voice of his authorized servants, and prepare themselves to receive every
blessing of the gospel.
DEC 2:10 Sincerely yours, SPENCER W. KIMBALL N. ELDON TANNER MARION G. ROMNEY
The First Presidency
DEC 2:11 Recognizing Spencer W. Kimball as the prophet, seer, and revelator,
and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is
proposed that we as a constituent assembly accept this revelation as the word
and will of the Lord. All in favor please signify by raising your right hand.
Any opposed by the same sign.
DEC 2:12 The vote to sustain the foregoing motion was unanimous in the
affirmative.
DEC 2:13 Salt Lake City, Utah, September 30, 1978
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