Since the rise of Mormon Fundamentalism in the 1920s, there has been a growing controversy over the early history of its beginnings. The Fundamentalist position has been that their beginning actually commenced in 1886, when the Resurrected Prophet Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ appeared to President John Taylor. According to Fundamentalism, these Deified beings prophetically directed President Taylor to set apart and commission five men with authority to perpetuate plural marriage. The understanding was that the special Priesthood Dispensation of these men would not commence until a future time — not until after the leaders of the Church elected to abandon the practice of Plural/Celestial Marriage.

The Fundamentalist faith, as expressed above, is predicated upon the testimony of Lorin Woolley, who bore record that he was an eye witness to said events, and that these thing took place in September 1886, while President Taylor was living in his father's home, at Centerville, Utah.

President Taylor's stay at the Woolley home is not disputed. His two month residence with the Woolleys came as a consequence of his steadfast resistance to the immoral mandates and tyrannical laws of the United States government. During the last two and a half years of his life, President Taylor chose to go into hiding and live on the "underground", rather than submit to harassment, arrest and imprisonment at the hands of federally appointed carpetbag officials from Washington.

The Constitution declares that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a Religion" — but the Constitution be damned, the Federal Government of the United States deliberately enacted laws with the intent of outlawing the Mormon religion in their practice of Plural Marriage. Through these laws, the way was opened for federal prosecution of the Church and its leaders. At long last, the enemies of Christ finally succeeded in placing the Restored Church where they wanted it. According to the unconstitutional "laws" as enacted by Congress, the Church was disincorporated as a legal entity and its property escheated to carpet bag officials from Washington. On top of this, no Mormon could immigrate to the United States and no Mormon could vote, hold public office, or sit on a jury. As if all this were not enough, all Church leaders who had more than one wife (and this included almost all of them) were made out to be Criminals —They were legislated into being Fugitives from justice, who could "lawfully" be hunted down and put in prison, or shot to death, should they dare to resist arrest. In short, the Mormon people were denied their Constitutional rights as citizens of the United States on a wholesale basis.

As already stated, President Taylor's stay at the Woolley home is not disputed —what is disputed is the question as to whether or not the events which Lorin Woolley described in his story are true, especially the miraculous appearance of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ and the ordination of 5 men with the mission to perpetuate plural marriage.

J. Max Anderson and Brian Hales have written two books wherein they have character assassinated Lorin Woolley and challenged the historicity of his Testimony. Of course, their reason for doing this, is to discredit Mormon Fundamentalism. Yet all this notwithstanding, of late, new evidence of President Taylor's vision has surfaced, and this too, from sources which would not have been expected.

As this issue of Doctrine of the Priesthood demonstrates, all in all, the historical record would argue hard for the idea that some concessions and honest confessions are in order and long overdue from the parties of both sides of the controversy.

A shorter version of this work was presented as a response to Brian Hale's paper at the 1991 Sunstone Symposium in Salt Lake City. $5.00

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New Light on the Lorin Woolley Story and Early Fundamentalist Beginnings