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:DEAR BRETHREN, — Permit me to draw your attention to the proclamation of the First Presidency and Twelve, published in the DESERET NEWS, and copied into the MILLENNIAL STAR of the 21st inst., in which several publications that have issued from my pen are considered objectionable. I, therefore, embrace the present opportunity of publicly expressing my most sincere regret, that I have ever published the least thing which meets with the disapprobation of the highest authorities of the Church; and I do most cordially join with them in the request, that you should make such dispositions of the publications alluded to, as counselled in their proclamation. | :DEAR BRETHREN, — Permit me to draw your attention to the proclamation of the First Presidency and Twelve, published in the DESERET NEWS, and copied into the MILLENNIAL STAR of the 21st inst., in which several publications that have issued from my pen are considered objectionable. I, therefore, embrace the present opportunity of publicly expressing my most sincere regret, that I have ever published the least thing which meets with the disapprobation of the highest authorities of the Church; and I do most cordially join with them in the request, that you should make such dispositions of the publications alluded to, as counselled in their proclamation. | ||
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Some critics of the Church quote from a newspaper called The Seer. Was this newspaper published by the Church? Are its contents considered official Church doctrine?
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here
The Seer was a periodical published by Elder Orson Pratt in Washington D.C. in 1853 and 1854. Brigham Young sent Elder Pratt east to defend the Church in print after the public announcement of plural marriage in 1852. The Seer was the resulting apologetic work.
The Seer was not widely read — its largest issue, in late 1853, was 400 copies. Despite its failure, Pratt's writings became the basis for many of the traditional explanations of plural marriage.
The Seer was publicly disowned and rejected by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve in 1865. (See the documentation below.) Despite any truths that it may contain, it cannot be relied upon as an accurate reflection of LDS doctrine.
Proclamation of the First Presidency and Twelve, October 21, 1865 (excerpt):[1]
The foregoing was signed by the First Presidency and all members of the Quorum of the Twelve except Orson Pratt. Orson Pratt attached the following statement to the First Presidency's letter, accepting their censure:
Notes
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