150 years ago today - Dec 11, 1869

[Brigham Young sermon to the School of the Prophets]

He said A Bill of Divorce that is given to many is no Better than a peace of Blank paper. A woman who is sealed to a good man who bears the Priesthood if that man honors that Priesthood if that woman leaves him of her own accord & she is sealed to a dozen other men the first man will hold her in the resurrection if he wants her unless she should be sealed to a Man of a Higher Priesthood. Then he would [ ] her...

Some ordinances Cannot Be given without A temple. All Children Born Before Parents are Sealed to [at] the Altar will have to be sealed to their Parents in order to make them Legal heirs. Those who are Born after the parents are sealed are legal heirs. Men also will have to be sealed to Men untill the Chain is united from Father Adam down to the last Saint. This will be the work of the Millennium & Joseph Smith will be the Man to attend to it or to dictate it. He will not administer in person But He will receive his resurrected Body & will dictate to those who dwell in the flesh & tell what is to be done for He is the Last Prophet who is Called to lay the foundation of the great Last dispensation of the fullness of times.

Some have thought it strange what I have said Concerning Adam But the period will Come when this people of faithful will be willing to adopt Joseph Smith as their Prophet Seer Revelator & God But not the father of their spirits for that was our Father Adam.

Many questions are asked about divorces. I will say that many men & women want to be sealed that should not be for they will not stay together. But if I was to stop it there would be a fuss. Now what is to be done? They will be sealed & then they will separate. Some give them Bills of divorce. I Charge Nothing for sealing But I Charge $10 for Bills of divorce. If they will Break the Commandmts & make me Break them they shall Pay $10 for [it].

Presidt Joseph Young asked Presidet Young if He was Justified in giving these Bills of Divorce. Presidet Young says yes I am. I do not force them to separate. I give them good Council & tell them what to do. No man has a right to put away a wife Except for adultry But when a woman will leave a man against his will He does not put her away; but she puts herself away & he that Marries her Commits adultery as James Says. I am Justified in giving these Bills of Divorce for they will separate against my Council & the woman takes the responsibility upon herself & not me.

President Young said in relation to Joseph Smith returning the Plates of the Book of Mormon that He did not return them to the Box from wh[ence?] He had Received But He went [1 m/in?] a Cave in the Hill Comoro with Oliver Cowdry & deposited those plates upon a table or shelf. In that room were deposited a large amount of gold plates Containing sacred records & when they first visited that Room the sword of Laban was Hanging upon the wall & when they last visited it the sword was drawn from the scabbard & [laid?] upon a table & a Messenger who was the keeper of the room informed them that that sword would never be returned to its scabbard untill the Kingdom of God was Esstablished upon the Earth & untill it reigned triumphant over Evry Enemy. Joseph Smith said that Cave Contained tons of Choice Treasures & records.

[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]