View source for Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 2a

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{{H1
|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 2a
|H=Response to claims made in "Chapter 2" (pp. 81-158)
|S=
|L1=
|T=[[../../|Nauvoo Polygamy: "... but we called it celestial marriage"]]
|A=George D. Smith
|<=[[../Chapter 2|Chapter 2 (pp. 52-80)]]
|>=[[../Chapter 3|Chapter 3 (pp. 81-155)]]
}}
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<onlyinclude>
{{H2
|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 2a
|H=Response to claims made in Nauvoo Polygamy, "Chapter 2" (pp. 81-158)
|S=
|L1=Response to claim: 81 - "Occasionally, as King David did with Uriah the Hittite, Smith sent the husband ... away on a mission which provided the privacy needed for a plural relationship to flower"
|L2=Response to claim: 81 - "This" sending away of the husband on a mission "applied to Zina"
|L3=Response to claim: 82 - The author notes a Buell child being sealed to a proxy for Joseph with wording that "hints that it might have been Smith’s child"
|L4=Response to claim: 84 - "From the inception of plural marriage, Smith demanded confidentiality from those whom he taught the principle"
|L5=Response to claim: 85 - Joseph Smith "evidently adapted and redefined" elements from the Masonic in the Mormon temple ceremonies"
|L6=Response to claim: 85 - "The vows of secrecy and threats of blood penalties intensified the mysterious rites of celestial marriage"
|L7=Response to claim: 92 - Sarah Pratt is claimed to have reported in 1886 that Lucinda had told her nearly forty-five years earlier in 1842 that she was Joseph Smith's mistress "since four years"
|L8=Response to claim: 100 - "During these years as Windsor's wife, Sylvia reportedly bore Smith a child in 1844"
|L9=Response to claim: 106 - "Like Smith, followers of Emanuel Swedenborg conceived of a pre-existent life, 'eternal marriage' for couples who had a true 'affinity' for each other, and a three-tiered heaven"
|L10=Response to claim: 106 - "Like some of the other husbands of women who agreed to marry the prophet, John Cleveland nevertheless became 'more and more bitter towards the Mormons'"
|L11=Response to claim: 106 - other polyandrous husbands are claimed to have become more bitter against the Church
|L12=Response to claim: 108 - "Sarah Pratt told…Wyl…'There was an old Woman called Durfee…to keep her quiet, he admitted her to the secret blessings of celestial bliss"
|L13=Response to claim: 110-111 - "When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 and exposed the world to then-indecipherable ancient writings...The...rental library, within five miles of the Smith family farm, had acquired a volume on Napoleon"
|L14=Response to claim: 111 - "This is not to suggest that Smith necessarily visited the library"
|L15=Response to claim: 111 - "when he began dictating the Book of Mormon, published accounts of Napoleon and his foray into Egypt would have been available"
|L16=Response to claim: 110 – 111 n. 150&mdash;Joseph "translated some of the hieroglyphics by means of his white seer stone to produce 'an alphabet…grammar of the Egyptian language'"
|L17=Response to claim: 112 - "a scholar" in 1823 "rightly concluded that these American symbols 'appear to have had little or nothing in common with those of the Egyptians'"
|L18=Response to claim: 112- we should review what was known of the language of ancient Egyptian, not only in 1823 when Smith began to anticipate the Book of Mormon's 'reformed Egyptian records'"
|L19=Response to claim: 112 - Joseph Smith made an association of Native American pictographs with 'reformed Egyptian'
|L20=Response to claim: 112 - "Smith's association" of the cultures of Egypt and the New World "simply reflected the prevailing misperceptions of the pre- to mid-nineteenth century"
|L21=Response to claim: 113 - "The first ancient scripture Smith presented since the Book of Mormon was the Book of Abraham"
|L22=Response to claim: 113 n. 157 - The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible is claimed to have "altered over 3,400 verses but left the deities singular and in a Trinitarian format"
|L23=Response to claim: 114 -  Joseph "coalesced astronomy, biblical mystery, ancient Egyptian writing, and Masonic ritual into portentous ceremony for his followers"
|L24=Response to claim: 114 - "The spring of 1842 was also the time when John C. Bennett began to separate himself from Smith"
|L25=Response to claim: 116 - Marinda Johnson "met Joseph while he was retranslating the Bible with Sidney Rigdon in her parents' home in 1831"
|L26=Response to claim: 117-118 - Orson Hyde "was reportedly 'furious'" with Joseph's plural marriage doctrine
|L27=Response to claim: 119 - "after John C. Bennett's disagreement with Smith, the record of his celestial marriages was apparently expunged"
|L28=Response to claim: 119 - "This apparent backdating was an attempt to discredit Bennett"
|L29=Response to claim: 129-134 - Emma Smith pushing Eliza Snow down the stairs
|L30=Response to claim: 131 n. 195 - The author cites BYU Studies on Emma and Eliza, but does not disclose that those authors find that the story is not plausible
|L31=Response to claim: 132 - The author cites Newel and Avery, Mormon Enigma without acknowledging or engaging their arguments against the story of Emma and Eliza
|L32=Response to claim; 133 - "Most convincing of all is to think that these stories were circulating widely and Eliza never bothered to clarify or refute them"
|L33=Response to claim: 138 - The author talks about Joseph's letter to the Whitneys ''again'': "Three weeks after the wedding, Joseph took steps to spend some time with his newest bride"
|L34=Response to claim: 142 - "he made complicated arrangements for a visit from his fifteenth plural wife, Sarah Ann Whitney"
|L35=Response to claim: 142-143 - "Smith urged his seventeen-year-old bride to 'come to night' and 'comfort' him"
|L36=Response to claim: 147 - "Invites Whitneys to visit, Sarah Ann to 'comfort me' if Emma not there.  Invitation accepted"
|L37=Response to claim: 149 - Sidney Rigdon "was in many ways a mentor to Joseph"
|L38=Response to claim: 149 - Sidney Rigdon "was not someone Joseph felt comfortable approaching to ask for his daughter's hand in polygamy"
|L39=Response to claim: 149 - Marinda Johnson Hyde stayed in the same house as "Apostle Willard Richards, whose wife, Jennetta, was in Massachusetts….their living arrangements seemed to be an open scandal"
|L40=Response to claim: 154 - Nancy Rigdon and Martha Brotherton were "isolated in a locked room during the persuasive effort"
|L41=Response to claim: 155 - The author refers to Joseph's visit by the Whitneys as a "liaison" with Sarah Ann
}}
</onlyinclude>

==Response to claim: 81 - "Occasionally, as King David did with Uriah the Hittite, Smith sent the husband ... away on a mission which provided the privacy needed for a plural relationship to flower"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim={{AuthorQuote|"Occasionally, as King David did with Uriah the Hittite, Smith sent the husband [of potential polyandrous marriage partners] away on a mission which provided the privacy needed for a plural relationship to flower."}}
|authorsources=
*No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|Unmentioned—but perhaps not unimplied—is the fact that David had already committed adultery with Bathsheba, and sought to have her husband killed so he could marry her (see 2 Samuel 11). This metaphor imputes motives to Joseph where no textual evidence exists.
}}
*[[../../Mind reading]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}

==Response to claim: 81 - "This" sending away of the husband on a mission "applied to Zina"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim="This [see above] applied to Zina…."
|authorsources=
*No source provided.
}}
{{disinformation|Henry Jacobs was present at the sealing to Zina.  Henry knew of Joseph's plural proposal to Joseph before their marriage.
}}
*{{InternalContradiction|compare p. 75}}
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Zina and Henry Jacobs|Zina and Henry Jacobs]]
*{{Wyatt-Zina}}
<!-- ====82====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author notes that the History of the Church "makes no mention of the second Huntington nuptial…."
}}
*[[Church history/Censorship and revision]]
*[[../../Censorship]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
|authorsources=
*No source provided.
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Censorship}}
}} -->
==Response to claim: 82 - The author notes a Buell child being sealed to a proxy for Joseph with wording that "hints that it might have been Smith’s child"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author notes a Buell child being sealed to a proxy for Joseph with “wording [that] hints that it might have been Smith’s child….It is not clear…which of her children it might have been."
|authorsources=
*Oliver Huntington Journal, Nov 14, 1884, USHS; see Compton, ''In Sacred Loneliness'', 140, 673.
}}
{{propaganda|There is no evidence that this child was Joseph's.	
}}
*[[Joseph_Smith/Polygamy/Children_of_polygamous_marriages/Presendia Buell|Children by Presendia Buell?]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}

==Response to claim: 84 - "From the inception of plural marriage, Smith demanded confidentiality from those whom he taught the principle"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author notes: "From the inception of plural marriage, Smith demanded confidentiality from those whom he taught the principle."
|authorsources=<br>
#''History of the Church'' 4:479; Woodruff Journals 2:143.
}}
{{information}}
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy#Hiding the Truth?|Joseph Smith and polygamy&mdash;Hiding the truth?]]
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Lying}}
}}

==Response to claim: 85 - Joseph Smith "evidently adapted and redefined" elements from the Masonic in the Mormon temple ceremonies"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author assumes that Joseph "evidently adapted and redefined [elements] from the Masonic rituals and incorporated [them] as part of the unfolding Mormon temple ceremonies."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source given.
}}
*[[Temples/Endowment/Freemasonry]]

==Response to claim: 85 - "The vows of secrecy and threats of blood penalties intensified the mysterious rites of celestial marriage"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim={{AuthorQuote|"The [temple] vows of secrecy and threats of blood penalties intensified the mysterious rites of celestial marriage…."}}
|authorsources=<br>
#Author's opinion.
}}
{{propaganda|There were no "blood penalties" associated with plural marriage. Note the prejudicial language, in which the author tries to make the endowment seem foreign, strange and alienating.
}}
*[[Temples/Endowment/Penalties]]
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo Polygamy:See also:Temple}}

<!-- ====88====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author notes that there is no mention of Joseph's sealing to Agnes Smith in the History of the Church.
}}
*[[Church history/Censorship and revision]]
*[[../../Censorship]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
|authorsources=
*No source provided.
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Censorship}}
}} -->
==Response to claim: 92 - Sarah Pratt is claimed to have reported in 1886 that Lucinda had told her nearly forty-five years earlier in 1842 that she was Joseph Smith's mistress "since four years"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=Sarah Pratt is claimed to have reported in 1886 that Lucinda had told her nearly forty-five years earlier in 1842: "Why[,] I am his [Smith's] mistress since four years."
|authorsources=
*Wyl, ''Mormon Portraits'', 60.
}}
{{propaganda|Compton notes that this statement is "antagonistic, third-hand, and late" (''In Sacred Loneliness'', 650).  It seems implausible that Harris would admit to being a "mistress." Newel and Avery, ''Mormon Enigma'', 346 have likewise seen the "mistress" label as "an embellishment by either Sarah Pratt or W. Wyl." The author provides none of this perspective.
}}
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Lucinda Harris}}	
<!-- ==Response to claim: 99 - "the History of the Church made no mention of Sylvia [Sessions Lyon] on February 8, 1842"====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=
The author notes that "[a]s usual, the History of the Church made no mention of Sylvia [Sessions Lyon] on February 8, 1842…."
|authorsources=
No source provided.
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Censorship}}
}}
*[[Church history/Censorship and revision]]
*[[../../Censorship]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
-->
==Response to claim: 100 - "During these years as Windsor's wife, Sylvia reportedly bore Smith a child in 1844"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author claims that "[d]uring these years as Windsor's wife, Sylvia reportedly bore Smith a child in 1844…."
|authorsources=
*{{CriticalWork:Compton:Sacred Loneliness|pages=180–81}}
}}
{{misinformation|DNA testing has proven that Josephine Sessions in ''not'' a descendant of Joseph Smith. Moreover, the author ignores Brian C. Hales, “The Joseph Smith–Sylvia Sessions Plural Sealing: Polyandry or Polygyny?” ''Mormon Historical Studies'' 9/1 (Spring 2008): 41–57, which argues that Sylvia considered herself divorced prior to marrying Joseph polygamously, contrary to evidence misread by Compton.
}}
*[[Joseph_Smith/Polygamy/Children_of_polygamous_marriages]]
{{:Question: What did the husband of Sylvia Sessions know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?}}
<!-- ====103====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim={{AuthorQuote|"Typically, [Joseph] never mentioned his marriage to Patty [Sessions] on paper…."}}
}}
*[[Church history/Censorship and revision]]
*[[../../Censorship]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
|authorsources=
*No source provided.
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Censorship}}
}} -->
<!-- ==Response to claim: 105 -Sarah Cleveland's husband "was a Swedenborgian, embracing a world view compatible with that of Mormons"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=It is claimed that Sarah Cleveland's husband "was a Swedenborgian, embracing a world view compatible with that of Mormons."
}}
*These needs more argument than the author gives it.  It is not clear how being a Swedenborgian would predispose Cleveland to accept a modern prophet, new scripture, and restored priesthood authority (for example).
*Surely any world-view was somewhat compatible with the Mormons', but what about Cleveland's views were more compatible than, say, other Christians?
*[[Plan of salvation/Three degrees of glory/Swedenborg]]
|authorsources=
*Biography of Sarah Maryetta Kingsley, LDS Archives.
}} -->

==Response to claim: 106 - "Like Smith, followers of Emanuel Swedenborg conceived of a pre-existent life, 'eternal marriage' for couples who had a true 'affinity' for each other, and a three-tiered heaven"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim={{AuthorQuote|"John Cleveland's Swedenborgian faith might have helped prepare Sarah for some of Joseph's teachings.  Like Smith, followers of Emanuel Swedenborg conceived of a pre-existent life, 'eternal marriage' for couples who had a true 'affinity' for each other, and a three-tiered heaven that required marriage for admission to the highest level."}}
|authorsources=<br>
#Author's speculation.
#Emanuel Swedenborg, ''Heaven and Hell'', trans. George F. Dole (West Chester, Pa.: Swedenborg Foundation, 2002), 18–32.
}}
{{misinformation|Three degrees in heaven is a Biblical notion, it did not originate with Swedenborg or Joseph Smith. It is not clear what Swedenborg's "affinity" between spouses has to do with LDS plural marriage.
}}
*[[Plan of salvation/Three degrees of glory/Swedenborg]]
<!-- ====106====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author notes that John Cleveland's continued willingness to host LDS events "indicated a likely compatibility of beliefs."
}}
*There are other options:
**Perhaps Cleveland was simply a tolerant man?
**Perhaps he respected the Mormons for what he had seen of them personally?
**Perhaps he respected his wife's desire to practice her own faith, despite not sharing it.
|authorsources=
* No source provided.	
}} -->

==Response to claim: 106 - "Like some of the other husbands of women who agreed to marry the prophet, John Cleveland nevertheless became 'more and more bitter towards the Mormons'"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim={{AuthorQuote|"Like some of the other husbands of women who agreed to marry the prophet, John Cleveland nevertheless became 'more and more bitter towards the Mormons.'"}}
|authorsources=	
*Sarah Cleveland to August Lyman, 1847, John Lyman Smith Collection, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, cited by Compton, ''In Sacred Loneliness'', 284.
}}
{{misinformation|The author does not tell the reader that this difficulty did not occur until after Joseph's death, and the Saints had gone west.  He neglects to point out that Compton noted that even six months before Joseph's death, Sarah's husband was "very friendly and frequently visited the Prophet." (Compton, ''In Sacred Loneliness'', 281). Thus, the implication that Joseph's plural marriage caused problems for Cleveland is not sustained by the evidence. The author also does not tell us that one version of Sarah's decision to remain behind instead of going to Utah reads:
<blockquote>
"Brigham Young and council…counciled her to stay with her Husband as he was a good man, having shown himself kind ever helping those in need, although for some reason his mind was darkened as to the Gospel. She obey[ed] the council and stayed with her Husband, and was faithfull and true to her religion and died a faithfull member of the Church…." (Compton, ''In Sacred Loneliness'', 283).
</blockquote>
}}
*[[Polygamy book/Polyandry#Sarah_Kingsley_Howe_Cleveland|Sarah Cleveland]]

==Response to claim: 106 - other polyandrous husbands are claimed to have become more bitter against the Church==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=Besides Cleveland (see above) other polyandrous husbands are claimed to have become more bitter against the Church.
|authorsources=
* No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|No other examples are given.  It is not clear to whom the author is referring.
}}
*[[Polygamy book/Polyandry]]

==Response to claim: 108 - "Sarah Pratt told…Wyl…'There was an old Woman called Durfee…to keep her quiet, he admitted her to the secret blessings of celestial bliss"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=It is claimed that "Sarah Pratt told…Wyl…'There was an old Woman called Durfee…to keep her quiet, he admitted her to the secret blessings of celestial bliss&mdash;she boasted here in Salt Lake of having been one of Joseph Smith's wives."	
|authorsources=
*Wyl, ''Mormon Portraits'', 54.
}}
{{misinformation|The author here follows Compton in misreading the Wyl data. Richard Anderson and Scott Faulring argue that 
<blockquote>
''In Sacred Loneliness'' misleads the reader by claiming that “Sarah Pratt mentions that she heard a Mrs. Durfee in Salt Lake City profess to have been one of Smith’s wives.”  But this changes the actual report of Sarah’s comments on Mrs. Durfee: “I don’t think she was ever sealed to him, though it may have been the case after Joseph’s death. . . . At all events, she boasted here in Salt Lake of having been one of Joseph’s wives.”<ref>{{FR-10-2-6}}<!--Anderson and Faulring--></ref> 
</blockquote>
If anything these data argue that Durfee was aware of and involved in promoting and teaching plural marriage but was not necessarily sealed to Joseph in life.
}}
*[[../../Use of sources]] {{nw}}
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}	

==Response to claim: 110-111 - "When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 and exposed the world to then-indecipherable ancient writings...The...rental library, within five miles of the Smith family farm, had acquired a volume on Napoleon"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
{{AuthorQuote|"When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 and exposed the world to then-indecipherable ancient writings, Europe and the United States became fascinated with Egyptian artifacts.  Egyptian hieroglyphics, like the origin of Native American tribes, were mysteries of the times, sometimes regarded as clues to Indian Origins."}}
<br>
{{AuthorQuote|"Joseph Smith had grown up…during the time when public interest in the enigmatic Egyptians was burgeoning.  The Manchester, New York, rental library, within five miles of the Smith family farm, had acquired a volume on Napoleon."}}	
|authorsources=	
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Egypt}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo Polygamy:See also:Environmentalism}}
}}
{{propaganda|A string of speculations on the part of the author.
}}
*[[../../Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries]]
*{{AuthorPublisherResponse}} The publisher notes that the author was not attempting to imply that Joseph plagiarized Napoleon, but rather that both of them wrote "amorous letters" and "shared a profound fascination with Egypt." {{link|url=http://www.signaturebooks.com/pluralmarriage.htm?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234200952&sr=1-1}}

==Response to claim: 111 - "This is not to suggest that Smith necessarily visited the library"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author then continues: "This is not to suggest that Smith necessarily visited the library…."
|authorsources=
*Joseph Smith and the Manchester (New York) Library," ''BYU Studies'' 22 (Summer 1982): 333-56.
}}
{{propaganda|So why mention it if not to give that impression?  If he did not, then it is irrelevant to Joseph Smith's thought or career.	
}}

==Response to claim: 111 - "when he began dictating the Book of Mormon, published accounts of Napoleon and his foray into Egypt would have been available"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author then speculates: "…but from the age of ten…to about age twenty-two (December 1827) when he began dictating the Book of Mormon, published accounts of Napoleon and his foray into Egypt would have been available in books, periodicals, and possibly tracts."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|The author offers us only speculation, with no evidence that Joseph paid any attention to such matters.
*This is the [[Logical_fallacies#Appeal_to_probability|fallacy of probability]].
}}
*[[../../Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries]]
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fallacy of probability}}

==Response to claim: 110 – 111 n. 150&mdash;Joseph "translated some of the hieroglyphics by means of his white seer stone to produce 'an alphabet…grammar of the Egyptian language'"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=Regarding the Chandler papyri, the author claims that Joseph "translated some of the hieroglyphics by means of his white seer stone to produce 'an alphabet…[and] grammar of the Egyptian language' through July 1835."
|authorsources=
*History of the Church 2:235-36, 238.
}}
{{misinformation|The author here acts as if a highly debated matter is settled.  It is not at all clear that Joseph's seer stone was used "to produce" the alphabet and grammar. Rather, the alphabet and grammar may have been an attempt by some (possibly including Joseph) to 'reverse-engineer' a translation of Egyptian from the divine translation given of the Book of Abraham.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Kirtland Egyptian Papers|l1=Kirtland_Egyptian_Papers}} 

==Response to claim: 112 - "a scholar" in 1823 "rightly concluded that these American symbols 'appear to have had little or nothing in common with those of the Egyptians'"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author claims that "a scholar" in 1823 "rightly concluded that these American [Indian] symbols 'appear to have had little or nothing in common with those of the Egyptians.'"
|authorsources=<br>
#Thomas Young, ''An Account of Some Recent Discoveries in Hieroglyphic Literature and Egyptian Antiquities'' (London: John Murray, 1823).
}}
{{misinformation|This is of no relevance to Joseph Smith unless we are to assume that Joseph taught that American writing could be used to illuminate ancient Egyptian. The Book of Mormon explicitly rejects any such idea, saying that "we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and ''altered by us'', according to our manner of speech…. ''none other people knoweth our language''; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof" ({{s||Mormon|9|31,34}}).

The author should also consider consulting scholarship more recent than 1823 if he wishes to know whether there are any links between Old World and New World languages.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Language/Hebrew and Native American languages}}

==Response to claim: 112- we should review what was known of the language of ancient Egyptian, not only in 1823 when Smith began to anticipate the Book of Mormon's 'reformed Egyptian records'"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim={{AuthorQuote|"As we consider Joseph Smith's new religious texts in early 1842, we should review what was known of the language of ancient Egyptian, not only in 1823 when Smith began to anticipate the Book of Mormon's 'reformed Egyptian records,' but later in the 1830s and 1840s when he prepared his second Egyptian scripture, the Book of Abraham."}}
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{misinformation|The author is again presuming that studies of ancient Egyptian would have had any relevance for the Book of Mormon records&mdash;yet the Book of Mormon explicitly says they would not.
}}
*[[../../Assumptions and presumptions]]

==Response to claim: 112 - Joseph Smith made an association of Native American pictographs with 'reformed Egyptian'==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
The author assumes that Joseph Smith made an association of Native American pictographs with 'reformed Egyptian.'
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|What evidence is there of this?
}}

==Response to claim: 112 - "Smith's association" of the cultures of Egypt and the New World "simply reflected the prevailing misperceptions of the pre- to mid-nineteenth century"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author speculates that "Smith's association of these unrelated cultures [Egypt and the New World] simply reflected the prevailing misperceptions of the pre- to mid-nineteenth century."
|authorsources=
*No source provided.
}}
{{misinformation|Joseph's scriptural texts associated only a small group from the Old World with the New.  His 1842 scriptures had nothing at all to do with the New World. That Joseph's own personal opinions may have reflected his time is irrelevant, unless we presume at the outset (as the author does) that the Book of Mormon was a fabrication by Joseph.  If it was not, then his personal views are irrelevant.
}}
*[[../../Assumptions and presumptions]]
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo Polygamy:See also:Environmentalism}}

==Response to claim: 113 - "The first ancient scripture Smith presented since the Book of Mormon was the Book of Abraham"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim={{AuthorQuote|"The first ancient scripture Smith presented since the Book of Mormon was the Book of Abraham."}}
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{disinformation| Joseph had also produced a Book of Moses and a Book of Enoch (begun June 1830) as part of his revision of the King James Bible.  These materials, however, did not rely on a modification of any extant Bible text.}}
*See: [http://farms.byu.edu/publications/transcripts/?id=75 here], [http://farms.byu.edu/publications/transcripts/?id=71 here], and [http://farms.byu.edu/publications/books.php?bookid=53 here.]

==Response to claim: 113 n. 157 - The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible is claimed to have "altered over 3,400 verses but left the deities singular and in a Trinitarian format"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible is claimed to have "altered over 3,400 verses but left the deities singular and in a Trinitarian format."
|authorsources=<br>
#Quinn, ''Mormon Hierarchy: Origins'', 620.
}}
{{misinformation|Since the original Bible has no Nicene Trinitarian format, it would be difficult to Joseph to leave it there. If The author does not mean a Nicene Trinity, then it would be strange for Joseph to alter it, since the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham all teach a non-Nicene trinitarianism.
*[[Godhead and the Trinity]] 
*The Book of Moses ({{s||Moses|1|3,6,13,24,32-33}}, {{s||Moses|2|1}}, {{s||Moses|4|2-3,28}}) also described the distinction between Father and Son in non-Nicene terms, as did the Enoch material ({{s||Moses|5|57}}, {{s||Moses|6|51-52,57,59,66}}, {{s||Moses|7|27,39}}), long pre-dating the Book of Abraham (Summer-Winter 1830).
Joseph was also teaching a non-Nicene Trinitarianism long before 1842:
*[[1830 statement about seeing "God"]]
*[[Only one Personage appears in the 1832 account]]
*[[Lack of contemporary Father and Son vision until 1838?]]
The author wants to display an evolution in Joseph's views, but he has not done the necessary legwork.  He merely presumes, rather than demonstrates.
}}
*[[../../Assumptions and presumptions]]	

==Response to claim: 114 -  Joseph "coalesced astronomy, biblical mystery, ancient Egyptian writing, and Masonic ritual into portentous ceremony for his followers"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
The author presumes that Joseph "coalesced astronomy, biblical mystery, ancient Egyptian writing, and Masonic ritual into portentous ceremony for his followers."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|The author presumes that all these were sources for the temple endowment, and that Joseph combined them.
}}
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
*[[../../Mind reading]]
*[[../../Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries]]
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo Polygamy:See also:Temple}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo Polygamy:See also:Environmentalism}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Egypt}}

==Response to claim: 114 - "The spring of 1842 was also the time when John C. Bennett began to separate himself from Smith"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author claims that "[t]he spring of 1842 was also the time when John C. Bennett began to separate himself from Smith…."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{misinformation|Bennett did not separate himself, Joseph forced Bennett out because of his crimes.
}}
*[[Polygamy book/John C. Bennett|John C. Bennett]]
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:John_C._Bennett}}

==Response to claim: 116 - Marinda Johnson "met Joseph while he was retranslating the Bible with Sidney Rigdon in her parents' home in 1831"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
Marinda Johnson "met Joseph while he was retranslating the Bible with Sidney Rigdon in her parents' home in 1831."
|authorsources=<br
#No source provided.
}}
{{misinformation|The author again does not tell us that Marinda testified against the version of Joseph's mobbing which he pushes on p. 44.
}}
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Womanizing and romance}}

==Response to claim: 117-118 - Orson Hyde "was reportedly 'furious'" with Joseph's plural marriage doctrine==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=Orson Hyde "was reportedly 'furious'" with Joseph's plural marriage doctrine.
}}
{{propaganda|Cites Ann Eliza Young, but fails to tell the reader there are three other versions, each of which is different and hostile. Ann Eliza’s report of anger is also suspect. Later in the same work cited by the author, she describes Hyde “in a furious passion” because “he thought it no harm for him to win the affection of another man’s wife, . . . but he did not propose having his rights interfered with even by the holy Prophet whose teachings he so implicitly followed."  Yet Orson did not begin practicing plural marriage until after he knew of Marinda’s sealing to Joseph. Despite the hostile reports of Orson Hyde’s anger, there are no contemporary accounts of problems between Orson and Joseph, who repeatedly dined with the Hydes following Orson’s return from Palestine. While it is possible that his initial reaction was heated, this perspective derives entirely from authors writing scandalous exposés of the Mormons long after the fact.	
|authorsources=
*Ann Eliza Young, ''Wife Number Nineteen'', 324–26.
}}
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}

==Response to claim: 119 - "after John C. Bennett's disagreement with Smith, the record of his celestial marriages was apparently expunged"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author assumes censorship when he notes that "after John C. Bennett's disagreement with Smith, the record of his celestial marriages was apparently expunged."
}}
{{propaganda|The author is arguing from negative evidence—he claims that the absence of any record of Bennett's "marriages" is proof that the Church or Joseph suppressed them! He is presuming that Bennett's "marriages" were at one time sanctioned by Joseph.  All the evidence indicates that Joseph was upset whenever Bennett's behavior came to his attention.
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Polygamy book/John C. Bennett|l1=John C. Bennett}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and history/Censorship and revision}}
*[[../../Censorship]]
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:John_C._Bennett}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Censorship}}

==Response to claim: 119 - "This apparent backdating was an attempt to discredit Bennett"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim={{AuthorQuote|"Smith told Bennett he could not withdraw from the church because he had been 'disfellowshipped' two weeks before on May 11.  This apparent backdating was an attempt to discredit Bennett."}}
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|The author has mentioned this before.  He has now adopted Bennett's version completely, with no hint that there is more to the story.
}}
*(Already [[../Chapter_2#65|addressed above]], see pp. 65, 70, 72-73.)
*{{Detail_old|Polygamy book/John C. Bennett|l1=John C. Bennett}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:John_C._Bennett}}

<!-- ====122====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author reports that in John C. Bennett's first letter that "he reported that Smith 'attempted to seduce Miss Nany{{cs}} Rigdon,'…."
|authorsources=
*Bennett to ''Sangamo Journal'', June 27, 1842.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Polygamy book/John C. Bennett|l1=John C. Bennett}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:John_C._Bennett}} -->

<!-- ====123-125====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author recounts John C. Bennett's version of the Sarah Pratt episode.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Polygamy book/John C. Bennett|l1=John C. Bennett}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:John_C._Bennett}} -->

==Response to claim: 129-134 - Emma Smith pushing Eliza Snow down the stairs==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The story of Emma Smith pushing Eliza Snow down the stairs is mentioned.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Emma Smith/Eliza R. Snow and the stairs|l1=Emma, Eliza, and the stairs}}
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Stairs}}

<!-- ====131-132====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
The author notes that "…historian Fawn M. Brodie thought the documentation was strong enough to include it in her biography of Smith."
}}
*Fawn Brodie's evidentiary standard was often depressingly low.  She was certain that Oliver Buell was Joseph's son (based on photographic evidence) but DNA evidence has resoundingly refuted her.
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Emma Smith/Eliza R. Snow and the stairs|l1=Emma, Eliza, and the stairs}}
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=470–71}}
*{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Stairs}}
*{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Buell}}	 -->

==Response to claim: 131 n. 195 - The author cites ''BYU Studies'' on Emma and Eliza, but does not disclose that those authors find that the story is not plausible==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
The author cites ''BYU Studies'' on Emma and Eliza, but does not disclose that those authors find that the story is not plausible.
|authorsources=<br>
#Maureen Ursenbach Beecher et al., “Emma and Eliza and the Stairs,” ''BYU Studies'' 22/1 (Fall 1982): 86–96.	
}}
{{misinformation}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Emma Smith/Eliza R. Snow and the stairs|l1=Emma, Eliza, and the stairs}}
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Stairs}}

==Response to claim: 132 - The author cites Newel and Avery, ''Mormon Enigma'' without acknowledging or engaging their arguments against the story of Emma and Eliza==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author cites Newel and Avery, ''Mormon Enigma'' without acknowledging or engaging their arguments against the story of Emma and Eliza.
|authorsources=<br>
#Newell and Avery, ''Mormon Enigma'', 134.
}}
{{misinformation}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Emma Smith/Eliza R. Snow and the stairs|l1=Emma, Eliza, and the stairs}}
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Stairs}}

==Response to claim; 133 - "Most convincing of all is to think that these stories were circulating widely and Eliza never bothered to clarify or refute them"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
The author assumes rumors are evidence: "Most convincing of all is to think that these stories [about Emma] were circulating widely and Eliza never bothered to clarify or refute them."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|Uncorrected rumor or gossip is more convincing than the absence of diary or behavioral evidence for a pregnancy as outlined by Newel and Avery (see [[Joseph Smith and polygamy/Emma Smith/Eliza R. Snow and the stairs|previous]])?
}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Emma Smith/Eliza R. Snow and the stairs|l1=Emma, Eliza, and the stairs}}
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Stairs}}

<!-- ====137====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
Censorship is again implied, when the author notes that the ''History of the Church'' "reports the day's activities…without a hint of a wedding" to Sarah Ann Whitney.
|authorsources=
*No source provided.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and history/Censorship and revision}}
*[[../../Censorship]]
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Censorship}} -->

==Response to claim: 138 - The author talks about Joseph's letter to the Whitneys ''again'': "Three weeks after the wedding, Joseph took steps to spend some time with his newest bride"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=
The author talks about Joseph's letter to the Whitneys ''again'': "Three weeks after the wedding, Joseph took steps to spend some time with his newest bride."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Love_letters_Whitney}}
}}
{{misinformation|Again, The author fails to acknowledge that Joseph wanted Sarah Ann '''and her parents''' to visit him.
}}
*[[../../Use_of_sources#Sarah_Ann_Whitney_and_the_letter_to_the_Whitneys|Use of sources&mdash;Letter to Whitneys]]
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
*[[../../Mind reading]]
*[[../../Romance]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{:Question: Did Joseph Smith write a "love letter" to his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney to request a secret rendezvous?}}
{{:Question: How do critics of the Church portray Joseph Smith's letter to the Whitney family as a "love letter"?}}
{{:Question: What was the real purpose of the letter written by Joseph Smith to the parents of Sarah Ann Whitney?}}

<!-- ====139====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
The book claims that in an "extraordinary move, the Nauvoo City Council issued an ordinance limiting the power of state courts and claiming the right to review and dismiss future writs."
|authorsources=
*Roberts, ''Comprehensive History'' 2:468-69.
}}
*{{Detail_old|City of Nauvoo/City charter}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Nauvoo city charter}} -->

==Response to claim: 142 - "he made complicated arrangements for a visit from his fifteenth plural wife, Sarah Ann Whitney"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
The author really wants readers to understand Joseph's letter to the Whitneys:
<blockquote>
"It was the ninth night of Joseph's concealment, and Emma had visited him three times, written him several letters, and penned at least one letter on his behalf…For his part, Joseph's private note about his love for Emma was so endearing it found its way into the official church history.  In it, he vowed to be hers 'forevermore.'  Yet within this context of reassurance and intimacy, a few hours later the same day, even while Joseph was still in grave danger and when secrecy was of the utmost urgency, he made complicated arrangements for a visit from his fifteenth plural wife, Sarah Ann Whitney."
</blockquote>
}}
{{propaganda|Yet again, the author does not acknowledge that Joseph wants all the Whitneys there. Joseph’s behavior is painted as callous toward Emma and also as evidence of an almost insatiable sexual hunger.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Whitney letter}}
*[[../../Use_of_sources#Sarah_Ann_Whitney_and_the_letter_to_the_Whitneys|Use of sources&mdash;Letter to Whitneys]]
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
*[[../../Romance]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Love_letters_Whitney}}

==Response to claim: 142-143 - "Smith urged his seventeen-year-old bride to 'come to night' and 'comfort' him"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=Referring to the Whitney letter, the author notes: "Smith urged his seventeen-year-old bride to 'come to night' and 'comfort' him—but only if Emma had not returned….Joseph judiciously addressed the letter to 'Brother, and Sister, Whitney, and &c."
}}
{{propaganda|Despite mentioning (finally!) that the letter is addressed to all three Whitneys, the author continues to insist that Sarah Ann is the one who is to "come" and "comfort" him. He here (p. 143) reproduces the letter's full text (having used it at least four times to push his reading of Joseph needing Sarah to "comfort" him), but does not address the reason why Joseph sought a visit with his plural wife and her parents: to “tell you all my plans . . . [and] to git the fulness of my blessings sealed upon our heads, &c.” 
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Whitney letter}}
*[[../../Use_of_sources#Sarah_Ann_Whitney_and_the_letter_to_the_Whitneys|Use of sources&mdash;Letter to Whitneys]]
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
*[[../../Mind reading]]
*[[../../Romance]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
Small wonder that Joseph didn’t want a hostile Emma present while trying to administer what he and the Whitneys regarded as sacred ordinances. And, it is unsurprising that he considered a single private room sufficient for the purposes for which he summoned his plural wife and her parents.

The author commonly exploits the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_historical_analysis) presentist fallacy] in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages.
}}
*[[Polygamy book/Age of wives|Age of wives]]
*[[../../Presentism]]	
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Love_letters_Whitney}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Age_wives}}

==Response to claim: 147 - "Invites Whitneys to visit, Sarah Ann to 'comfort me' if Emma not there.  Invitation accepted"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
Referring yet again to the Whitney letter, the author notes: "Invites Whitneys to visit, Sarah Ann to 'comfort me' if Emma not there.  Invitation accepted."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|Having just reproduced the entire letter, the author again insists that Sarah Ann is the one to "comfort" Joseph, even though the letter says nothing of the sort. The author does not indicate how he knows the invitation was accepted. We do know that the Whitneys were sealed in eternal marriage three days later. But, the author does not tell us that either.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Whitney letter}}
*[[../../Use_of_sources#Sarah_Ann_Whitney_and_the_letter_to_the_Whitneys|Use of sources&mdash;Letter to Whitneys]]
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
*[[../../Romance]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Love_letters_Whitney}}

<!-- ====147–154====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The book recounts the Nancy Rigdon episode
}}
*{{Detail_old|Polygamy book/John C. Bennett|l1=John C. Bennett}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:John_C._Bennett}} -->

==Response to claim: 149 - Sidney Rigdon "was in many ways a mentor to Joseph"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
The author assumes that Sidney Rigdon "was in many ways a mentor to Joseph."
|authorsources=
*No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|What evidence is there of this?  Joseph was always in charge and always the senior partner, though he was happy to make use of Rigdon's skills as an orator. Joseph had published the Book of Mormon and had the Church well established before Rigdon appeared.  He did not need Sidney to "mentor" him at all.
}}

==Response to claim: 149 - Sidney Rigdon "was not someone Joseph felt comfortable approaching to ask for his daughter's hand in polygamy"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author speculates that Sidney Rigdon "was not someone Joseph felt comfortable approaching to ask for his daughter's hand in polygamy.  So Joseph appealed to the young woman directly."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|There is no way that the author could know this.}}
*[[../../Mind reading]]
*{{Detail_old|Polygamy book/John C. Bennett|l1=John C. Bennett}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:John_C._Bennett}}

==Response to claim: 149 - Marinda Johnson Hyde stayed in the same house as "Apostle Willard Richards, whose wife, Jennetta, was in Massachusetts….their living arrangements seemed to be an open scandal"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim={{AuthorQuote|"For some reason, Marinda [Johnson Hyde] stayed [in the same house as] Apostle Willard Richards, whose wife, Jennetta, was in Massachusetts….Although the two may have lived in separate parts of the building…their living arrangements seemed to be an open scandal."}}
|authorsources=<br>
#''History of the Church'' 4:467
#{{CitationError}} Bennett, ''History of the Saints'', 241; [Error! The correct page is 243 for the claim of scandal.]
#Ebenezer Robinson, ''The Return'' (Oct 1890): 347 [Actually most is on p. 346].
#(Did the author just copy these from Van Wagoner, ''Sidney Rigdon'', who uses the same page numbers, rather than check the originals?
}}
{{misinformation|This hardly has the appearance of an "open scandal." From ''History of the Church'':
<blockquote>
Thursday, 2.—I received the following revelation to Nancy Marinda Hyde—
Revelation.<br>
Verily thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have called upon me to know my will concerning my handmaid Nancy Marinda Hyde—behold it is my will that she should have a better place prepared for her, than that in which she now lives, in order that her life may be spared unto her; therefore go and say unto my servant, Ebenezer Robinson, and to my handmaid his wife—Let them open their doors and take her and her children into their house and take care of them faithfully and kindly until my servant Orson Hyde returns from his mission, or until some other provision can be made for her welfare and safety. Let them do these things and spare not, and I the Lord will bless them and heal them if they do it not grudgingly, saith the Lord God; and she shall be a blessing unto them; and let my handmaid Nancy Marinda Hyde hearken to the counsel of my servant Joseph in all things whatsoever he shall teach unto her, and it shall be a blessing upon her and upon her children after her, unto her justification, saith the Lord.
</blockquote>
}}

==Response to claim: 154 - Nancy Rigdon and Martha Brotherton were "isolated in a locked room during the persuasive effort"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author claims that both Nancy Rigdon and Martha Brotherton were "isolated in a locked room during the persuasive effort."
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Women locked in a room}} 
*{{Detail_old|Polygamy book/John C. Bennett|l1=John C. Bennett}}

==Response to claim: 155 - The author refers to Joseph's visit by the Whitneys as a "liaison" with Sarah Ann==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Nauvoo Polygamy
|claim=The author refers to Joseph's visit by the Whitneys as a "liaison" with Sarah Ann.
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}}
{{propaganda|The author persists with his Sarah Ann Whitney and "liaison" fiction.
}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Whitney letter}}
*[[../../Use_of_sources#Sarah_Ann_Whitney_and_the_letter_to_the_Whitneys|Use of sources&mdash;Letter to Whitneys]]
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]]
*[[../../Mind reading]]
*[[../../Romance]]
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}}
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Love_letters_Whitney}}

{{endnotes sources}}