Messages of the First Presidency James R. Clark, ed.

BYU Studies Quarterly Volume 8 | Issue 1 Article 16 1-1-1968 Messages of the First Presidency James R. Clark, ed. Dean C. Jessee Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Recommended Citation Jessee, Dean C. (1968) "Messages of the First Presidency James R. Clark, ed.," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 8 : Iss. 1 , Article 16. Available at: http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol8/iss1/16 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact . Jessee: <em>Messages of the First Presidency</em> James R. Clark, ed. book reviews messages of the first presidency 111 III lil salt lake city bookcraft inc 1966 401 pp 4.50 ap 450 450 JAMES R CLARK ed in compiling the official messages of the first presidency of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints dr james R clark oark has provided a unique perspective for the study of dark mormon history that will be of great value to layman and scholar alike this volume consists of 104 documents covering that transit ional period of church history from 1885 to 1901 the flow sitional of events is easily followed by their chronological presentation and an excellent fifty seven page index provides opportunity for topical study as well the reader is well rewarded to consider the explanatory notes that accompany each message which include references for further reading and quotations from significant primary sources such as the journals of L john nuttall john M whitaker and wilford woodruff the first eleven items cover the final two and one half years of the life of president john taylor at that time he and other church leaders were living in exile due to the intensity of the anti anil antl polygamy crusade five of these messages were deantipolygamy livered to the saints in general conference in the absence of their church leaders there are sixty nine documents listed during the administration of president wilford woodruff including those pertinent to the solution of the plural marriage issue and the political realignment of the church the concluding twenty four messages cover the three year term of president lorenzo snow one third of these deal with financial matters of the church the reformation of which was the prime task of his administration the lack of reference to the polygamy question in the period of lorenzo snow is noticeable inasmuch as it was the subject of an official statement by that church leader on january 8 1900 rumors were that the church was insincere in abandoning the practice of plural marriage in 1890 and that 95 Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1968 1 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 8, Iss. 1 [1968], Art. 16 96 BRIGHAM YOUNG university STUDIES polygamists were still violating the law pertaining to unlawful cohabitation in his statement president snow noted that the church has positively abandoned the practice of polynor does the church advise or encourage unlawful gamy cohabitation in this same regard it may be suggested that the quotation of part of president snow s may 8 1899 discourse at st george utah pertaining to the law of tithing might logically be extended to include his solemn statement concerning the abandonment of the practice of plural marriage two other messages that were overlooked in this period are noteworthy the first is a statement by president woodruff pertaining to the church and politics issued october 19 1895 which is a precursor to the political manifesto of april 1896 in which he states that the holding of a church position does not require any man to give up his political principles the second is a letter sent by president woodruff at the request of the new york world in july 1897 that appeared in an article entitled fifty years of mormonism in america among other things the president described his entrance into salt lake valley with brigham young 11 when we arrived at the spot where we could have a good view of the valley he wished me to turn the carriage which 1I did so that he could look without obstruction when the door was opened on the side after gazing on the valley for a while he said that will do drive on this is the place 1I have seen this valley before in vision A few other messages of rather minor importance have been overlooked such as the call in 1892 for a special day of thanksgiving the reaffirmation on october 15 1892 of the deseret news as the official organ of the church and the announcement of a special memorial day in honor of the dead of the warship maine on july 16 1898 several messages have been listed and briefly described that were not available for publication at this time one of these was written to marriner W merrill president of the logan temple january 23 1889 directing him to discontinue plural marriages this letter provides a significant clue to the question of the actual terminal date of the practices which arises from http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol8/iss1/16 2 Jessee: <em>Messages of the First Presidency</em> James R. Clark, ed. BOOK REVIEWS 97 the statement of wilford woodruff in the 1890 manifesto solemnizer wherein he denied that any such marriages had been solemnized during the preceding year as alleged in the utah commission report of that year of slight annoyance in this volume is over fifty typographical errors the most serious being the trans position of transposition one line of type from its place on page 310 to a place four lines further in the text A note in the preface indicates that a desire to preserve the character of the original documents appears to increase the number of errors such errors however could properly be noted by a literary device to distinguish them from later additions it may be further noted that the statement on political policy found on page 233 which was apparently taken from B H roberts A comprehensive history 0of the church is missing a rather lengthy introductory sentence when compared with the original in the deseret news of march 25 1892 these faults in no way detract from the intrinsic value of this book and certainly dr clark oark is to be commended for his dark highly significant contribution dean C jessee church historian s office Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1968 3  (...truncated)