A Young Folks' History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsAnderson, Nephi
Religion
A Young Folks' History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Anderson, Nephi
Latter Day Saint churches
Those who did not understand the true nature of "Mormonism" thought that at
the death of Brigham Young, the Church would go to pieces; but they soon
found out that the work of God does not depend on any one man. The Twelve
again became the leading quorum in the Church, with John Taylor at its
head. Three years after the death of President Young, October 10, 1880, the
First Presidency was again organized. John Taylor became President, and he
chose George Q. Cannon as first and Joseph F. Smith as second counselor.
[Illustration: PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR.]
President Taylor was seventy-two years old at this time. He had been with
the Church nearly from the beginning, having been an Apostle for forty-two
years. He had filled many missions both in the United States and in Europe,
had written much on gospel subjects, and was in reality as some called him,
the "Champion of Liberty." You will remember that he was with Joseph and
Hyrum at the time of their martyrdom in Carthage jail and was then severely
wounded.
The year 1880 was the jubilee year of the Church, being fifty years since
it was organized. As was the custom in ancient Israel, it was a time of
forgiveness. The Church remitted many debts of the poor, besides giving
them many sheep and cattle. "While God is blessing us, let us bless one
another," said President Taylor; and thus much good feeling was manifested
among the Saints.
But another storm was coming. A trial of another kind was in store for the
Church.
In the days of Nauvoo, in 1843, Joseph the Prophet had received a
revelation from God, saying that it was right for good men holding the
priesthood to have more wives than one. By the time the Church had been in
Utah a few years, quite a number of the Saints had obeyed this law and
entered plural marriage. The enemies of the Church call this practice a
great sin, even though they can read in the Bible that good men of old whom
the Lord loved had many wives. In 1862 Congress passed a law against plural
marriage or polygamy. As many thought it was an unjust law, it was not
enforced for many years. Elder George Reynolds offered to be arrested and
tried under the law in order to have it tested. This was done, and Elder
Reynolds was convicted and sent to prison. His case was taken to the
Supreme Court of the United States where the law was decided to be
constitutional.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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