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Show in my father's house/^35 "It was lived by the leaders of the Early Church. In those days, a man couldn't head the Church unless he lived all the laws - the Fullness of the Gospel, including plural marriage and the United Order. That meant he would have to contribute all he had to the Church coffers and that he would have to marry more than one wife." The boys who sat at the back of the room with their chairs tilted against the wall snickered loudly. "Oh, some of you young fellows might think those men had strange reasons for living that way. But it wasn't what you think - it was because they were commanded by the Lord. And it wasn't an easy life." "Sometimes they sacrificed their freedom to live the Principle. The United States Government put terrible pressure on them, sending them to jail if they refused to give up their plural families." "Even the first presidency of the Church had to hide out, and the Church stood to lose all its property and holdings if its membership didn't conform to United States law." "Then, the issue of statehood was another influence. No way would Utah be admitted to the Union while polygamy had was allowed - abolitionists^called it 'slavery,' and on the heels of the Civil War, such talk got people really worked up. So the Manifesto, outlawing polygamy in the Church, was signed by President Wilfred Woodruff." He was looking at me. I squirmed and shifted in my seat. I dropped my eyes and twisted my handkerchief into a knot. "Some very good Mrmons have said that the Manifesto wasn't really a revelation from the Lord, but a political |