[General] Joseph Smith defines as "a conspiracy against the peace of my household" three separate conflicts that converge today. First, the Sidney Rigdon family is outraged to learn of his polygamous proposal to his first counselor's daughter Nancy. Second, the charges and counter-charges involved in that crisis lead to the discovery that Joseph's special counselor John C. Bennett had been claiming the prophet's authorization for seducing several women. In his own defense Bennett apparently told others about his knowledge of Joseph's recent polygamous marriages and unsuccessful proposals. These interrelated scandals threw Joseph's wife Emma into a fury, as one woman after another began disclosing Nauvoo's sexual underground. This controversy caused Joseph to delay his plans to give the "grand key words of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood" to his wife and other women, "as well as to the Elders"
[Source: On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
No comments:
Post a Comment