Without Disclosing My True Identity
Joseph later sent his younger brother Samuel Smith, Brigham Young, and Parley
Pratt to preach to the people in Maine and in Canada. Many Cochranites in these areas
converted and became Mormon, thus prompting historians to make their erroneous
connections between Jacob Cochran and Joseph Smith. The missionaries did not preach
polygamy or even mention the practice as being right or wrong. A critical historian for Saco
Valley, Maine would report:
The doctrine preached by Smith, Pratt, and Young, in York county, was
not of an offensive nature; it was, properly speaking, Millenarianism.
The excitement was immense. The inhabitants went twenty miles to hear
these earnest missionaries preach. A change from Cochranism was
wanted, and this new gospel seemed to be an improvement. Old wine
was put into new bottles, and many drank to their fill. At this time
polygamy had not been mentioned. No attempt was made to form an
organized church; Cochran had preached against such, and Brigham
found these disciples averse to any ecclesiastical government, and
waited until he had transported his converts to Manchester, N. Y., before
enforcing this part of his creed.^11Joseph’s more conservative religion was very appealing to the Cochranites,
though Joseph did not promote plural relationships as a tenant of Mormonism. They
were excited to join a growing religious movement in which they were not judged and
condemned for acting contrary to what the majority of the American Christian
community accepted as the established laws of God. Not once did Joseph ever
condemn or condone a man or a woman for believing and practicing according to their
desires. However, when it came to the religion for which he was responsible, Joseph
taught his followers to respect their marriage vows.
After the Church of Christ was established in 1830, and because of its missionary
efforts, there was a flood of Cochranites who had sold all they had and headed for Kirtland,
Ohio to join the main body of Mormons who had since migrated there. The people of Ohio
became suspicious of the Cochranite influx, causing Joseph to receive another revelation to
calm their fears. Joseph wanted to ensure that the Mormon men were not influenced by
Cochranite beliefs, which never completely left the hearts of the Cochranite converts. The
natural man has always been an enemy of the sanctity of women’s rights. Joseph knew this.
Here is his own explanation as to why he was forced to come up with a revelation to
counter the lustful desires of the men who joined his church:
With much dismay I began to observe the effects of the natural man’s heart
when influenced by the law of free agency and the code that protects it. What
could I say, without hypocrisy, to counter their desire to follow what they
learned from the followers of Jacob Cochran? They did not understand that the
code of their own humanity prohibited them from doing anything that would
cause another to lose joy. Their wives were suffering from their intents. And
their intents were suffering from biblical evidence [he was referring to the stories
of early men having concubines] that I could not dispute openly. They seldom
listened to reason, but they would listen to a revelation from God.