Charles Augustus Shook
Published: 2013-09
Total Pages: 72
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ...from that mission the latter part of November, 1843. Soon after our return, I was told that when we were gone, the revelation on polygamy was presented to, and read in, the High Council in Nauvoo, three of the members of which refused to accept it as from the Lord, viz.: Presidents Marks and Cowles, and Counsellor Leonard Soby. At that time and place, and on that occasion, President Austin Cowles resigned his position as one of the presidents of the High Council, which necessarily included his presidency of the church at Nauvoo. After this he was looked upon as a seceder, and no longer held a prominent place in the church, although morally and religiously speaking, one of the best men in the place.' CHAPTER V. The Nauvoo "Expositor"--The Events Leading up to Smith's Assassination--The Charges of the "Expositor"--The Charges of the "Expositor" Sustained. No sooner did the members of the High Council and other leading Mormons learn that their Prophet had received a revelation authorizing polygamy, than a number of them followed his example and married plural wives. On the other hand, a large and influential element rebelled, refused to obey the revelation and accused those living up to the "law of Sarah" of practicing immorality. During the fall of I843 and the winter of 1843-44, the lines became distinctly drawn and by spring the Mormon priesthood was divided into two contending and irreconcilable factions, one supporting the Smiths and polygamy, the other denouncing both.' THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO SMITI-I'S ASSASSINATION. The trouble at Nauvoo reached a climax on the 18th of April, I844, when several prominent Mormons were cut ofi from the church on the charge of...