120 years ago today - Mar 2, 1904

[Andrew Jenson]

Pres[iden]t. [Joseph F.] Smith was put on the stand as the first witness and was kept on all day, both forenoon and afternoon. He was subjected to a most trying ordeal and seemed somewhat confused in giving some of his answers.

[He testifies: "I have never pretended to nor do I profess to have received revelations. I never said that I had a revelation except so far as God has shown me that so-called Mormonism is God's divine truth, that is all."

He also testifies that he is cohabitating with his plural wives and acknowledges that he is in violation of laws of both the church and of the state. Although he is truthful about his own illegal post-manifesto cohabitation he lies under oath about official church involvement in post-manifesto plural marriages. He is following advice he had given to others: "We should consider the interests of the Church rather than our own." He is the first LDS president to testify before congress.]

[Andrew Jenson, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please Enter your Comment: