Articles of Faith 1:12 “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”
Proverbs 12:10 “The righteous is merciful even unto his beast, but the piety of the wicked is cruel.”
You can see by the tone of Mr. Taylor’s speech, the Church didn’t take too kindly when outsiders poked their noses into Utah’s private utopia.
Congress had already passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act in 1862, and after Lincoln’s death the push to reinforce U.S. laws was given new life. Feds amended the law twenty years later in 1882 with the Edmunds Act, and amended it yet again in 1887. Because the Church had people in DC, they were immediately aware of any news pertaining to their status. See Edmunds-Tucker Act article for more info.
At the time of this speech, the 1882 amendment was like a foreboding dark cloud, waiting to dump its bad news on their God-inspired lifestyle. Taylor’s speech was one of several brimstone and hellfire sermons the Church published as an attempt to keep their polygamous activities afloat. If you want to get a feel for what it was like during those days, Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, is a great read.
What the Mormons didn’t seem to care about was the other ‘god-inspired’ commandment doled out by Joseph Smith known as the 12th Article of Faith. Apparently that flew in the face of their immediate need for sex, and keeping all those wives.
Worse yet was the fact they called themselves a Christian organization, and used God’s word to excuse their outlandish behavior.
Their tangled web of lies continued in this fashion until they finally abandoned it publicly in 1904. My family is but one example of how this played out.
If they truly cared about God, the US, and being honest, their track record would read much differently than it does today.
Our question today is this –
Why haven’t they denounced the behavior of past prophets, and asked God to forgive them for lying, and disobeying His word?
As an FYI, Taylor gave this speech on January 4, 1880, two days before the Trib’s report was published. We’ll be looking at other aspects of this in the future because it presents some thought provoking dilemmas for the Church even today.
With Love in Christ;
Michelle