Gems from Church History

These made me chuckle

While reading19th century articles about polygamy, I came across this article. In it, new sister converts from Europe were detained and persuaded to "flee" from the Mormons. They were warned about the danger of travelling to Utah, where they would probably be married off to a polygamist, and this is one of their replies:

"Yes," she replied quickly, "and if a man is good enough that six wives will stay with him he isn't going to be bad to one more."

Ha ha ha ha ha! Good point.

The next is from an anti-Mormon account of how Brigham Young manages to convince "his" followers that he was a prophet, despite his "inability" to perform miracles. No other details are given so we don't know the context of the situation. However, this is classic Brigham Young humor:

A certain elder, while chopping wood, had cut his foot so badly that it had to be amputated. As soon as he was able he came to Young and stated his case to him somewhat as follows: "I have always been a good Mormon; I have several wives and a good many children, and in my present maimed condition I do not know how I am to provide for them. I believe truly that you are Christ's representative on earth, and that you have all the power that He had. if you like you work miracles; if you like you can give me a new leg, and now I ask you to do it."


Young assented to all the flattering propositions as they were laid down, and when the elder had finished speaking he said: "I can give you a new leg, and I will, but I want you to think about it a little first. When the day of judgment comes, whenever you are buried, your old leg will find you out and join itself to you, but if if I give you a new one, that will rise with you, too, and the question is whether you would rather suffer the inconvenience of getting along with one leg for a few years here or go through all eternity with three legs."