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The Church in Court
Compiled and Arranged by Elbert
A. Smith
Introduction
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized
April 6, 1830. Joseph Smith, sometimes known as Joseph Smith the
Martyr, was the chief instrument in the hands of God in perfecting
this organization.
Joseph Smith was slain June 27, 1844. A period of confusion
and disorganization ensued. Ambitious leaders arose. Among them
was Brigham Young, who led a certain number to Utah, where they
acquired more or less temporal power, and where they began to
promulgate certain doctrines, such as polygamy, that had been
no part of the belief of the church in the days of Joseph the
Martyr.
Other members of the original church came together and reorganized
on the original plan, forming what has since been termed the Reorganized
Church. Joseph Smith, the oldest son of Joseph Smith the Martyr,
took his place at the head of the Reorganized Church April 6,
1860. He had received a divine personal call to that position,
besides having been blessed and set apart for that work by his
father.
The Reorganized Church claims to be in fact the church of Christ.
It claims further to be the legal heir, and in succession to all
rights, privileges, and properties belonging to the church established
in 1830.
These claims have been challenged, and on several occasions
the question has been carried to the civil courts, where evidences
could be weighed before unprejudiced tribunals and where an authoritative
decision could be rendered.
The Kirtland Temple Suit
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| Kirtland Temple |
February 23, 1880, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, by its attorneys, appeared before the Court
of Common Pleas, Lake County, Ohio, (see journal entry, February
term, 1880) as plaintiff, asking for possession of the Kirtland
Temple, an edifice erected during the early days of the church,
and prior to the death of Joseph Smith the Martyr. The church
in Utah, then presided over by John Taylor, was named with others
as defendants.
Judge L. S. Sherman rendered the following decision:
Now at this term of the Court came the Plaintiff by its attorneys,
E. L. Kelley, and Burrows and Bosworth, and the Defendants came
not, but made default; and thereupon, with the assent of the
Court, and on motion and by the consent of the Plaintiff a trial
by jury is waived and this cause is submitted to the Court for
trial, and the cause came on for trial to the Court upon the
pleadings and evidence, and was argued by counsel; on consideration
whereof, the Court do find as matters of fact:
- That notice was given to the Defendants in this action by
publication of notice as required by the statutes of the State
of Ohio; except as to the Defendant, Sarah F. Videon, who
was personally served with process.
- That there was organized on the 6th day of April, 1830,
at Palmyra, in the State of New York, by Joseph Smith, a religious
society, under the name of "The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints," which in the same year removed in a body
and located in Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio; which said Church
held and believed, and was founded upon certain well defined
doctrines, which were set forth in the Bible, Book
of Mormon, and Book of Doctrine and Covenants.
- That on the 11th day of February, A. D. 1841, one William
Marks and his wife, Rosannah, by Warranty Deed, of that date,
conveyed to said Joseph Smith as sole Trustee-in-Trust for
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, being the
same Church organized as aforesaid, the lands and tenements
described in the petition, and which are described as follows:
[The description of the land is omitted. — E.
A. S.]
And upon said lands said Church had erected a church edifice
known as The Temple, and were then in the possession and occupancy
thereof, for religious purposes, and so continued until the
disoganization of said Church, which occurred about 1844. That
the main body of said religious society had removed from Kirtland
aforesaid, and were located at Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1844, when
said Joseph Smith died, and said Church was disorganized and
the membership (then being estimated at about 100,000) scattered
in smaller fragments, each claiming to be the original and true
Church before named, and located in different States and places.
That one of said fragments, estimated at ten thousand, removed
to the Territory of Utah under the leadership of Brigham Young,
and located there, and with accessions since, now constitute
the Church in Utah, under the leadership and Presidency of John
Taylor, and is named as one of the defendants in this action.
That after the departure of said fragment of said church for
Utah, a large number of the officials and membership of the
original church which was disorganized at Nauvoo, reorganized
under the name of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, and on the 5th day of February, 1873, became
incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois, and since
that time all other fragments of said original Church (except
the church in Utah) have dissolved, and the membership has largely
become incorporated with said Reorganized Church which is the
Plaintiff in this action.
That the said Plaintiff, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints is a Religious Society, founded and
organized upon the same doctrines and tenets, and having the
same church organization, as the original Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints, organized in 1830, by Joseph Smith,
and was organized pursuant to the constitution, laws and usages
of said original Church, and has branches located in Illinois,
Ohio, and other States.
That the church in Utah, the Defendant of which John Taylor
is president, has materially and largely departed from the
faith, doctrines, laws, ordinances and usages of said original
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and has incorporated
into its system of faith the doctrines of celestial marriage
and a plurality of wives, and the doctrine of Adam-god worship,
contrary to the laws and constitution of said original Church.
And the Court do further find that the Plaintiff, the Reorganized
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is the True
and Lawful continuation of, and successor to the said original
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, organized in 1830,
and is entitled in law to all its rights and property.
The leading points sustained by the above quoted decision may
be summarized as follows:
- The Reorganization is the legal successor to the church organized
April 6, 1830, under the leadership of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
- That polygamy and kindred false doctrines were first promulgated
and adopted by the church in Utah, such doctrines not having
any place in the faith of the original church during the days
of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
- That the Reorganized Church, being one with the original church
in organization and doctrine, is the legal continuation of said
church, and heir to all its rights and properties.
The Ruling of a Canadian Court
May 19, 1893, Hiram Dickout, a regularly ordained priest of
the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, at
Niagara Falls, Canada, solemnized the marriage of Abraham H. Taylor
and Alice E. Vance.
Priest Dickout was arraigned before a police magistrate and
fined ten dollars. The charge in effect was that the Reorganized
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was not a Christian
denomination, and hence under the laws of the Dominion (R. S.
O., ch. 131, sec. 1) a minister of that church could not legally
solemnize a marriage.
An appeal was taken and the case came before Chief Justice Armour,
in the Court of the Queen's Bench, Chancery, Common Pleas Division
of the High Court of Justice, for Ontario, at Toronto, November
28, 1893. The following decision was rendered by Judge Armour,
see Ontario Reports, vol. 24, pp. 250–254, also reported
in the Toronto Mail, November 28, 1893; also in the Globe:
We think it quite clear that this conviction can not be maintained.
The defendant was clearly a duly ordained minister of this religious
body, and there is no doubt that it is a religious denomination
within the words of the statute. Assuming that Christianity
is the law of the land in a sense, there is nothing contrary
to Christianity in the tenets of this body. It is true they
have some authorized works supplemental to the Bible, but that
is the case with every church or denomination. The Church of
England has its creeds, and the Presbyterian Church its confession.
That does not make the church an anti-Christian one. The statute
should receive a wide construction. It does not say "Christian",
but "religious." If it said "Christian," it would exclude Jews.
The fundamental law of the province makes no distinction between
churches or denominations. Every person is at liberty to worship
his Maker in the way he pleases. We have, or ought to have,
in this country, perfect freedom of speech and perfect freedom
of worship. Conviction quashed.
Under the above decision Latter Day Saints enjoy equal rights
with other churches in Canada and retain their standing as a religious
body. Enemies of the church sometimes charge that it is not Christian,
but the charge can not be maintained before an unprejudiced court.
The Temple Lot Suit*
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| Temple Lot |
This case was tried before Judge John F. Philips, in the Circuit
Court of the United States, for the Western District of Missouri,
Western Division, at Kansas City, Missouri.
The property involved was a tract of land in the city of Independence,
Missouri, known as the Temple Lot, acquired by the church in the
early thirties, and at a later date claimed by a body of people
known as the Church of Christ, more commonly called "Hedrickites."
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ appeared as plaintiff,
the Church of Christ or "Hedrickites" as defendant. The dominant
church in Utah came to the aid of the defendant, not openly, but
to such an extent that Judge Philips in his decision spoke of
it as "the power behind the throne." They furnished many leading
witnesses, including Wilford Woodruff, president of the Utah church,
Lorenzo Snow, president of the Utah twelve, and at least two of
the women who had become notorious by reason of their claim that
they were plural wives of Joseph Smith the Martyr.
Able attorneys represented both sides, and many witnesses were
summoned. An abstract of the evidence fills a book of five hundred
and ninety-seven pages. The decision of the judge occupies an
additional twenty-eight pages.
The question was largely one of doctrine, and a desperate attempt
was made to prove that Joseph Smith the Martyr taught polygamy.
Every effort possible was made to break down the claim of the
Reorganized Church to succession.
The judge sustained the Reorganized Church on every material
point. On an appeal to the Appellate Court the decision as to
the possession of the property was set aside and the defendants
were permitted to retain possession of the Temple Lot, solely
on the ground that the Reorganized Church had not moved soon enough,
a question of latches. The decision by Judge Philips as
to the weight of evidence presented and the standing of the Reorganized
Church as the legal successor to the church established April
6, 1830, was never reversed and still stands. The Reorganized
Church was merely unfortunate in not presenting its claims at
a date sufficiently early to come within the statute of limitation.
In his decision, rendered March 16, 1894, Judge Philips said:
Beyond all cavil, if human testimony is to place any matter
for ever at rest, this church was one in doctrine, government,
and purpose from 1830 to June, 1844, when Joseph Smith, its
founder, was killed. It had the same federal head, governing
bodies, and faith. During this period there was matter fundamental,
or affecting its oneness.
The only authorized and recognized books of doctrine
and laws for the government of the church from 1830 to 1846
were the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine
and Covenants. The Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which consisted
principally of claimed divine revelations to Joseph Smith, was
the edition published at Kirtland, Ohio, in 1835, and at Nauvoo
in 1845....
There can be no question of the fact that Brigham Young's
assumed presidency was a bold and bald usurpation. The
Book of Doctrine and Covenants (printed in 1846) page 411, containing
a revelation to Joseph Smith, January 19, 1841, gave unto them
"my servant Joseph, to be a presiding elder over all my church,
to be a translator, a revelator, a seer, and a prophet." ...
The book clearly taught that the succession should descend lineally
and go to the first-born. Joseph Smith so taught, and, before
his taking off, publicly proclaimed his son Joseph, the present
head of Complainant Church, his successor, and he was so anointed....
The Book of Mormon itself inveighed against the sin of polygamy....
Conformably to the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants expressly declared "that we believe that one man should
have but one wife, and one woman but one husband." And this
declaration of the church on this subject reappeared in the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants, editions of 1846 and 1856. Its
first appearance as a dogma of the church (the dogma of polygamy)
was in the Utah Church in 1852.
Claim is made by the Utah Church that this doctrine is predicated
of a revelation made to Joseph Smith in July, 1843. No such
revelation was ever made public during the life of Joseph Smith,
and under the law of the church it could not become an article
of faith and belief until submitted to and adopted by the church.
This was never done....
The Utah Church further departed from the principles
and doctrines of the original church by changing in their
teaching the first statement in the Article of Faith, which
was, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in his Son,
Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost," and in lieu thereof taught
the doctrine of "Adam-god worship." ...
It has introduced societies of a secret order, and established
secret oaths and covenants, contrary to the book of teachings
of the old church. It has changed the duties of the President,
and of the Twelve, and established the doctrine to "Obey Counsel,"
and has changed the order of the "Seventy, or Evangelists."
...
A considerable number of the officers and members of the church
at Nauvoo did not ally themselves with any of the factions,
and wherever they were they held onto the faith, refused
to follow Brigham Young to Utah, and ever repudiated the
doctrine of polygamy, which was the great rock of offense
on which the church split after the death of Joseph Smith.
In 1852 the scattered fragments of the church, the remnants
of those who held to the fortunes of the present Joseph Smith,
son of the so-called "Martyr," gathered together sufficiently
for a nucleus of organization. They took the name of "The Reorganized
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," and avowed their
allegiance to the teachings of the ancient church; and their
epitome of faith adopted, while containing differences in phraseology,
in its essentials is but a reproduction of that of the church
as it existed from 1830 to 1844. To-day they are twenty-five
thousand strong. [At present, 1911, the membership is about
sixty thousand. — E. A. S.]
It is charged by the Respondents, as an echo of the Utah Church,
that Joseph Smith, "the Martyr," secretly taught and practiced
polygamy; and the Utah contingent furnishes the evidence, and
two of the women, to prove this fact. It perhaps would
be uncharitable to say of these women that they have borne
false testimony as to their connection with Joseph Smith;
but, in view of all the evidence and circumstances surrounding
the alleged intercourse, it is difficult to escape the conclusion
that at most they were but sports in "nest hiding." In view
of the contention of the Salt Lake party, that polygamy obtained
at Nauvoo as early as 1841, it must be a little embarrassing
to President Woodruff of that organization when he is confronted,
as he was in the evidence in this case, with a published card
in the church organ at Nauvoo in October, 1843, certifying
that he knew of no other rule or system of marriage than the
one published in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and that
the "secret wife system," charged against the church, was a
creature of invention by one Doctor Bennett, and that they knew
of no such society. That certificate was signed by the leading
members of the church, including John Taylor the former
President of the Utah Church. And a similar certificate was
published by the Ladies' Relief Society of the same place, signed
by Emma Smith, the wife of Jospeh Smith, and Phoebe Woodruff,
wife of the present President Woodruff. No such marriage
ever occurred under the rules of the church, and no offspring
came from the imputed illicit intercourse, although Joseph Smith
was in the full vigor of young manhood, and his wife Emma, was
giving birth to healthy children in regular order, and was enciente
at the time of Joseph's death.
But if it were conceded that Joseph Smith, and Hyrum, his
brother, did secretly practice concubinage, is the church to
be charged with those liaisons, and the doctrine of polygamy
to be predicated thereon of the church? If so, I suspect the
doctrine of polygamy might be imputed to many of the Gentile
churches. Certainly it was never promulgated, taught, nor
recognized, as a doctrine of the church prior to
the assumption of Brigham Young. — Decision of Judge Philips
in Temple Lot Case, pp. 20–26.
By reading the foregoing decision the reader will discover the
following facts:
- Brigham Young's assumption of the presidency was a bold and
bald usurpation.
- He it was who introduced polygamy and kindred false doctrines.
- These false doctrines are denounced in the Bible, Book of
Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants, which three books were the
standards of authority in the church during the days of Joseph
Smith, and are still standards of authority to the Reorganized
Church.
- An effort to prove that Joseph Smith was a polygamist can
not successfully be made before a competant court that is capable
of weighing evidence, not even when his reputed plural wives
are present.
- The Reorganized Church is in line of succession and has kept
the faith, having shaped its course in harmony with the word
of God and in such a way as to merit the approval of all good
men.
A Statement by Hon. Julius C. Burrows and the
Hon. Fred T. Dubois
Reed Smoot, a member of the twelve apostles of the dominant
church in Utah, having been elected to the United States Senate,
took the oath of office, March 5, 1903.
A protest against the seating of Reed Smoot having been filed
with the Senate, the matter was referred to the Committee on Privileges
and Elections.
This committee, composed of leading senators of the United States,
summoned many witnesses, including the president of the dominant
church in Utah, investigated a great mass of documentary evidence,
and made a thorough and exhaustive investigation of "Mormon" history.
Their work of investigation continued until June, 1906. A transcript
of the evidence taken and speeches made fills four large volumes.
The Committee on Privileges and Elections was not a court, in
the strict sense of the term, but it had some of the functions
of a court. The Reorganized Church was not directly involved,
as it had no interest in the seating of Reed Smoot, but the matter
was overruled, divinely or otherwise, so that it terminated to
our favor.
For these reasons, we have decided to use in this connection
certain statements made by the chairman of the committee, United
States Senator Julius C. Burrows, while reviewing the matter before
the United States Senate, December 11, 1906. The position of the
man making the statements, the unusual opportunity that had been
his to discover the truth, the great publicity of the utterance,
and the fact that it was made before one of the greatest legislative
bodies in the world, gives great weight to that which we shall
quote.
Concerning the origin of polygamy Senator Burrows said:
In order to induce his followers more readily to accept this
infamous doctrine, Brigham Young himself invoked the name of
Joseph Smith, the Martyr, whom many sincerely believed to be
a true prophet, and ascribed to him the reception of a revelation
from the Almighty in 1843, commanding the Saints to take unto
themselves a multiplicity of wives, limited in number only by
the measures of their desires.... Such the mythical story palmed
off on a deluded people. — Congressional Record, December
13, 1906.
Concerning the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints, he said:
The death of Joseph Smith in 1844, however, carried dismay
and demoralization throughout the entire membership of the Mormon
church, scattering its adherents in divers directions and for
the time being seemed to presage the complete overthrow and
dissolution of the organization. Recovering, however, from the
shock, the scattered bands soon reappeared in various parts
of the country and promulgated their doctrines with increased
zeal, and set to work to reassemble and reorganize their scattered
forces, resulting finally in the formation of what is now known
and recognized as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, with headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa, and presided
over by Joseph Smith, a son of the Prophet. The courts have
repeatedly declared this organization to be the legitimate
successor of the original Mormon church, and its adherents,
numbering some 50,000 peaceable, patriotic, and law abiding
citizens scattered throughout the United States in small church
societies, conforming to the laws of their country wherever
they may be and adhering to the faith of the founder of their
creed, repudiating and denouncing the doctrine of polygamy
and its attendant crimes, without temple, endowment house, or
secret order, worship in the open like other church organizations,
unquestioned and unmolested. — Congressional Record,
December 13, 1906.
Another member of the Committee on Privileges and Elections,
Senator Fred T. Dubois, in a speech before the United States Senate,
December 13, 1906, confirmed the statements made by Mr. Burrows.
Senator Dubois said:
It is only fair, I think, for me to say — and I am glad
the distinguished Senator from Michigan (Mr. Burrows) treated
upon it the other day — that there is a branch of the
Mormons, called the "Josephites," who ought to be separated
clearly in the minds of all Senators from the Brighamite Mormons.
The Josephites claim that they are the custodians of the church
as it was founded. They claim that Brigham Young has interjected
doctrines into the church which the Mormons did not accept in
the beginning. At any rate, however that may be, the Josephite
Mormons, with their headquarters at Lamoni, in the State of
Iowa, and wherever they are, no matter in what part of the country,
are among the best of our citizens in all respects. —
Congressional Record, December 17, 1906.
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