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Church History Matters
204 - Did Joseph Smith Drink Alcohol? I Church History Matters I Word of Wisdom Series
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- [00:00]
Scott
In the beginning, the text explicitly states that this is not a commandment, that it's just wise counsel.
- [00:06]
Casey
They did still use wine in their church sacraments. In fact, they do into the 20th century.
- [00:11]
Scott
What are my temptations? Whiskey. Whiskey. Whiskey.
- [00:15]
Casey
That is also resting on the assumption that the Word of Wisdom means the same thing to them as it does to us.
- [00:22]
Scott
Now, Joseph got, quote, gloriously drunk occasionally.
- [00:26]
Casey
The way church members observed the Word of Wisdom was kind of all over the place.
- [00:30]
Scott
Some Latter Day Saints do lose. Lose their membership because of the excessive use of alcohol to the point of drunkenness.
- [00:37]
Casey
How many of you are living the Word of Wisdom? Show of hands.
- [00:40]
Scott
How serious was a Latter Day Saint to take this counsel, this wisdom?
- [00:46]
Casey
And there's lots of twists and turns along the way.
- [00:52]
Scott
Hello, Casey.
- [00:53]
Casey
Hello, Scott. Good to see you. You too. And nice to be back in the Word of Wisdom. This is, this is a topic that we've mentioned a couple times, was probably our most requested topic when we were doing series. And I gotta say this, this is becoming so cliche, but it's a lot more complicated than I thought it was gonna be. Yeah, I remember when we talked about this one, we said it'll maybe be like a one to two episode sort of little palette refresher. But yeah, you and I have a way of just getting in way over our heads when we start to dive into the sources. And there is a lot of stuff to process when it comes to the Word of Wisdom.
- [01:36]
Scott
Yeah, yeah. Not only has this series been our most requested topic, but what we're talking about today is one that people have wondered a lot about. So we're excited to get into two very meaty questions about the early history, namely, number one, how did Joseph Smith personally observe the Word of Wisdom? And then, number two, how did everyday church members observe it under Joseph's presidency? And researching this has been a lot of fun, actually. So we're excited to talk about this.
- [02:17]
Casey
There's a lot of really interesting stuff and like we said, it's very deep. Last week, for instance, we really just set the table. We kind of explored the 19th century American cultural context in which the Word of Wisdom revelation that we now call doctrine and Covenants 89 was received. And we discussed, for instance, that in the early 19th century, America was a heavy drinking society, to say the least.
- [02:41]
Scott
Yeah, I think with average alcohol consumption per person per year reaching up to like 7 1/2 gallons by 1823. That was so wild.
- [02:49]
Casey
Yes. Yeah. Alcohol was just a big part of everyone's life and it was also sort of just something that was universal at celebrations and, you know, gatherings, everything from barn raisings to weddings to funerals. You got together and you drank.
- [03:06]
Scott
Yeah. And yet there was a growing uneasiness at this time about the ills of alcohol consumption, which were obvious as well. And that leads to the rise of the American Temperance Society, which spreads throughout the nation. And by 18, when the word of wisdom was given, temperance society already had strongholds that had just taken root in many cities and towns throughout the US and the one we were most interested in was one of the hotbeds of the temperance agitation movement was the Western Reserve of Ohio. Right. Where Kirtland is located. Right. And the Kirtland Temperance Society had been organized in 1830.
- [03:47]
Casey
Yes. That is the precise spot where the Lord calls the saints to gather in December 1830. That's in Section 37 of the Doctrine and Covenants. So it's interesting that in the years before the first missionaries arrive in this area, a number of temperance societies were already formed with members of these societies who would later form the core of the Kirtland church membership.
- [04:10]
Scott
Yeah. So it's not like questions surrounding alcohol weren't already on church members minds before the word of wisdom was given. Right?
- [04:18]
Casey
Yeah, exactly. And not only was alcohol being debated, but the temperance movement also influenced and was part of the broader health reform movement that also debated the use of tobacco and coffee and tea and the over consumption of meat. All of these discussions were all already kind of well underway before the first missionaries arrive in the region.
- [04:39]
Scott
Yeah. And let's not forget the debates about the use of mustard and other spicy foods.
- [04:43]
Casey
Yeah, yeah. Which, which was sort of a delightful surprise. Mustard could have been against the word of Wisdom.
- [04:50]
Scott
It was on the chopping block.
- [04:52]
Casey
Yeah, yeah. Well, that would have been one of the things that they're asking. I mean, the Lord gave the word of wisdom. Right. But you could see in a, in a different timeline, someone going in and saying, hey, what's the deal with mustard? And seeking revelation from the Lord.
- [05:04]
Scott
So I, I have concerns about our, our neighbor, old farmer Johnson, because he seems to be pounding the mustard like he's been.
- [05:11]
Casey
He's been on the mustard just a little bit. Yeah. Now we should note that the conversations and debates do kind of organize themselves around two categories, and that's first, the harm of stimulants and to the health benefits of proper foods and diets. So one reformer that we mentioned was Sylvester Graham, who, for instance, was out there crusading for total abstinence against. And this is a, quote, distilled spirits, wine, beer, cider, tobacco, opium, coffee, tea, pepper, mustard, and every other kind of artificial stimulant and narcotics. So that's delightful. That pepper was considered a stimulating pepper, a stimulant, or a narcotic. That's category one. And a publication called the Journal of Health in 1830 advocated against excessive meat eating and recommended the diet of. Or a diet of grains, fruits, and vegetables. That's category two.
- [06:10]
Scott
Yeah. So last time, we were just trying to point out that the Word of Wisdom was not received in a vacuum. As Kirtland became a central gathering place for the church in the early 1830s. We're not surprised that these temperance and health reform debates about harmful stimulants and proper diet will not only occupy the minds and be part of the conversations of church members, but would probably eventually agitate the question sufficiently in the prophet Joseph Smith's mind that he would seek a revelation on the matter. So it's just like the context was just perfect for this.
- [06:45]
Casey
Yeah. And most church members have heard the story from Brigham Young and, to a lesser extent, David Whitmer about the tobacco use of the. In the school of the prophets. And Emma's complaints is the reason Joseph approached the Lord and received the word of Wisdom. And that probably was the inciting incident, the straw that broke the camel's back and pushed him to pray about it. But when we look at the content of the Word of Wisdom itself, we see that the text is dealing with all of the health reform issues being discussed at the time and not just tobacco. So they may have gotten more than they expected when they went and inquired of the Lord to find out what his will was concerning this.
- [07:25]
Scott
Yeah. Okay. So for today, I think it would be fun to open with the words of doctrine and Covenants 89. Two, right there at the beginning. This is so fascinating. It says, to be sent greeting not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation. And the word of wisdom showing forth the order and will of God and in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days. So right here in the beginning, the text explicitly states that this is not a commandment, that it's just wise counsel. Right?
- [08:01]
Casey
Yeah. Yeah. But it also states that it was the will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days. Then it goes on in the next verse to say it was adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints who are or can be called saints, which sounds like, A, it is the will of God, and B, it's not really that hard to follow.
- [08:29]
Scott
Okay, so, yeah, so we can see right here there's actually a real tension right in these two messages. Just right there in verse two. You don't have to go beyond verse two. On the one hand, he says it's explicitly not by way of commandment. On the other hand, he says it is the will of God. So, so what was a Latter Day Saint to do with this? Right. How. How serious was a Latter Day Saint to. To take this counsel, this wisdom? And what were the expectations about how a conscientious church member should live it? So the natural instinct of a new convert to the church when trying to get their bearings on how to live this would be to look to the example of the prophet Joseph Smith. Right. So that leads to that natural first question. Let's talk about what we know, Casey, from the historical record about the way that Joseph Smith approached the Word of Wisdom in his own personal life.
- [09:24]
Casey
Yeah. And before we dive into that, let's also be clear that we don't know everything. We only have a handful of records to draw from, like snapshots here and there. And to be honest, some of them sort of contradict each other. So just be cautious as we go through this and we try to point out critical source issues when they come up.
- [09:45]
Scott
So maybe let's start with a fun recollection of a talk that was given by Joseph smith in Nauvoo, April 1841. A guy named Julius Reid. We have his notes of this. This talk that Joseph gave. And this is what he recorded. Joseph saying, quote, what are my temptations? Whiskey, Whiskey, whiskey,
- [10:08]
Casey
he said.
- [10:08]
Scott
Joseph said he could basically live on it, on whiskey, get fat feel if God hadn't said it was wrong. But he added he wasn't going to wrestle with that temptation because he knew he'd lose. Yeah, that's a fun comment.
- [10:27]
Casey
Yeah. So from that comment, it sounds like he stayed away from whiskey, but we also know that he didn't completely abstain from alcohol altogether. For instance, Alexander McCrae, who's one of the men who's in Liberty Jail with Joseph Smith in the winter of 1838-1839, remembered that the prisoners in Liberty Jail, who include Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith, Alexander McCrae. Caleb Baldwin became quite friendly with the guards, even to the point of drinking liquor with them. He said liquor was procured and we all had a drink in token of friendship.
- [11:04]
Scott
Drinking some liquor with the guards right there in Liberty Jail. Wow. In May of 1843, there's a clear entry in Joseph's journal where he says, called at the office and drank a glass of wine with Sister Janetta Richards made by her mother in England, and reviewed a portion of the conference minutes. I love that image of them just reviewing the minutes of the church conference while drinking some wine that Sister Richard's mom had made. Just really matter of fact, as matter of fact, he just drops that in his journal.
- [11:39]
Casey
Yeah. And here's another reference. At a marriage that took place in 1836, this is three years after the Word of wisdom has been received. Joseph blessed the couple, and then they all drank wine. Here's the entry from his diary. He wrote, I pronounce such blessings upon their heads as the Lord put into my heart even the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And dismissed by singing and prayer. We then took some refreshment. Our hearts were made glad with the fruit of the vine. This according to the pattern set by our Savior himself. And we feel disposed to patronize all the institutions of heaven. So fruit of the vine seems to be a reference to wine there. And he also points out he's just following the example of Jesus. He's keeping things biblical. So to Joseph, these moments almost have, like, kind of a sacred, communal feel. The Word of Wisdom itself allowed wine in certain settings, especially sacramental ones. We should point out that during this time, they did still use wine in their church sacraments. In fact, they do into the 20th century. And yes, this was real wine. It was not grape juice. Pasteurization wasn't really a thing yet. So they're drinking actual wine.
- [12:54]
Scott
In another entry just a week later from the one you just quoted. At the wedding of John and Susan Boynton, Joseph officiated in marrying them, giving them a blessing. John had just been called a year previous to be one of the members of the 12 apostles. So after Joseph marries them, gives them a blessing, then the account says they brought out the wine. Let me quote directly from the history. It says, quote, Elder Orson Hyde, Elder Luke Johnson, and Elder Warren Parish, who served on the occasion, then presented the presidency with three servers filled with glasses of wine to bless. And it fell to my lot, Joseph says, to attend to this duty which I cheerfully discharged. It was then passed around in order, then the cake in the same order. And suffice it to say, our hearts were made glad while partaking of the bounty of the earth which was presented until we had taken our fill and joy filled every bosom. And the countenances of old and young alike seemed to bloom with the cheerfulness and smiles of you and an entire unison of feeling seemed to pervade the congregation. And indeed, I doubt whether the pages of history can boast of a more splendid and innocent wedding and feast than this. For it was conducted after the Order of Heaven. He said, who. Who has a time for all things? And this being a time of rejoicing, we heartily embraced it and conducted ourselves accordingly. Close quote. That's not exactly the vibe of someone sneaking around, breaking the rules, you know, like, he's just being so open. Like, this was great. It was innoc. It was after the Order of Heaven. We had wine, we ate cake. We just enjoyed this beautiful, beautiful day.
- [14:35]
Casey
Yeah. If we're trying to use this to capture the time that they're in, it really doesn't seem like they see anything wrong. In fact, he's saying, this is good. This is wholesome. And then there's other places in Joseph Smith's journal where it's less contextualized. For instance, this is a pretty matter of fact entry from Joseph's journal in June of 1844. He writes, Saturday at home, some. Some gentle showers. I went to John P. Green's and paid him and another brother $200. Drank a glass of beer at Moser's, called at William Clayton's, while Dr. Richards and O.P. rockwell called at the doctor's new house. And so that's just sort of there.
- [15:17]
Scott
Oh, just drank a glass of beer.
- [15:18]
Casey
Yeah. And he doesn't seem like he's recording it as a special occasion, just something he did when he's writing down his day. And we should mention, by the way, beer seems to have been interpreted as fairly okay for consumption, even justified by verse 17 in the Word of Wisdom, because it says that mild barley drinks are okay. And what was a mild barley drink in Joseph's day? Beer. And today, beer is still made from malted barley. So it's not too surprising when Joseph Smith does things like he allowed Theodore Turley to build a brewery in Nauvoo in 1843. Or hearing that Joseph Smith drank a glass of beer on a rainy day.
- [16:00]
Scott
This is so matter of fact, you just read it like, oh, oh, there it is. I will say that that particular entry in the history of the church later on, I'm saying, like, when was. I was looking at it last night, maybe 80 or so years later, when the history of the church is redone, somebody, I don't know who it was, just took that line out. They took out the line about drinking a glass of beer, like, ooh, Is that going to be embarrassing? Joseph's not embarrassed about this. Joseph, as a matter of fact, he's not trying to hide. He's not sneaking around, trying to break the word of wisdom. This is how he is navigating what the word of wisdom is saying. And it's so interesting. But some of some of his enemies and people who fall away from the church will later recollect that Joseph overdid it all the time, that he was, like, getting drunk all the time. This is where we get some truly contradicting sources, like, for example, John C. Bennett. Right. Who's just a scoundrel. He had become one of Joseph Smith's most ardent antagonists. He'll write in some of his sort of expose writings, he says that Joseph got, quote, gloriously drunk occasionally. I mean, this isn't a book that Bennett wrote after he had been excommunicated twice. He had been involved in the plot to murder Joseph and Emma Smith. And this book is just criticizing nearly all aspects of life in Nauvoo. So Bennett will say stuff like that.
- [17:30]
Casey
He's got an axe to grind. Another person was Thomas Ford, who's the governor of Illinois at the time. Joseph Smith is in Nauvoo. He said of Joseph that at times he drank like a sailor. But I should point out that Ford got a lot of facts wrong about the Saints and doesn't appear to have spent much time with Joseph Smith either. For instance, you and I noted when we talked about the witnesses of the Book of Mormon that I think Ford gets two out of the three witnesses names wrong.
- [17:59]
Scott
Doesn't even know their names.
- [18:01]
Casey
Yeah, so he's not employing a ton of fact checkers when he's writing his history of Illinois. And like I said, other than the events surrounding the martyrdom, it doesn't seem like Ford spent a ton of time with Joseph Smith either. So I don't know where he's getting this information from.
- [18:16]
Scott
Yeah, I was just reading another source last night that a guy who left the church can't recall his name. But he said that at the Kirtland Temple dedications, they had done sacramental wine. But he said Joseph just got super drunk in the temple. And it's interesting. It's always coming from people who have an axe to grind against Joseph, trying to make him look like a drunkard. But on the other end of the spectrum, we have people like William Clayton, Joseph's personal secretary. Here's what he said in 1842 about the Prophet. He wrote this. Let's see. This is A letter he wrote To William Hardman, 1842, March 30, he said, quote, with regard to Joseph Smith getting drunk, I will say that I am now acting as clerk for him and at his office daily, and have been since February 10th. And I know he is as much opposed to the use of intoxicating drinks as any man need be. I have never seen him drunk, nor have I ever heard any man who has seen him drunk since we came here. I believe he does not take intoxicating drink of any kind. Our city is conducted wholly upon temperance principles. As to his using snuff and tobacco, I know he does no such thing. To conclude, I will add that the more I am with him, the more I love him, the more I know of him and the more confidence I have in him. And I am sorry that people should give heed to evil reports concerning him when we all know the great service he has rendered the church. Close quote. Now, the truth is probably somewhere between those two extremes. He's saying, like, he doesn't ever drink. I've never seen him drink at all. Other friends that are also close to him, like Benjamin F. Johnson, during this time, he said, quote, as a companion socially, Joseph was highly endowed. He was kind, generous, mirth, loving, and at times even convivial. He was partial to a well supplied table. And notice this, he did not always refuse the wine that maketh the heart glad. Close quote. So he was fun to hang out with and was not one who would refuse the wine in certain occasions.
- [20:28]
Casey
So there's a few snapshots from sometimes extreme ends of the spectrum. People that loved Joseph Smith, people that hated Joseph Smith. Let's try and go a little bit deeper into the context of where Joseph Smith comes from. So one thing that we sometimes forget is that before the Word of Wisdom was revealed in 1833, drinking wasn't forbidden among the Saints. In fact, it was pretty normal. Martin Harris once said that Joseph Smith drank too much liquor at times before translating the Book of Mormon. And that quote actually comes from Joseph's own published history. So he wasn't really hiding anything. A lot of the harsher claims come from critics. Like one of them, a guy named Barton Stafford, who lived in and around the Palmyra area, said that Joseph and his family were basically heavy drinkers. But Stafford also seems to have an obvious grudge, so his take isn't exactly neutral.
- [21:25]
Scott
Yeah, there was some. After Joseph Smith rises to prominence, people wanted to know about his origins, right? And so people go back to Palmyra and try to interview These people who had known Joseph and his family when they were growing up. Barton Stafford's one of them. Another one is a guy named Orlando Saunders. He gives a more balanced view. He said everybody drank in those days. Speaking of the Smiths back in Palmyra, including the Smiths, he said, but they didn't get drunk. He said, we know Joseph's father even admitted having been drunk in the past. And like Richard Bushman in his biography points out that Joseph Smith Sr. S drinking was not unusual for that time and place. So honestly, it would have been weird if Joseph's family didn't drink, if Joseph himself didn't drink. So going back into the Palmyra past to try to make the Smiths out as these wine bibbers or these drunkards is, again, anachronistic. This is pre Word of Wisdom. They seem to have been a lot like everybody else in those days in terms of the amount that they drank. Right. There was no breaking of the Word of Wisdom as it didn't exist at that time. So that's just a low blow when people try to do that. But, Casey, what else do we know about Joseph and tobacco, tea and coffee? We've been talking a lot about alcohol, but what about some of the other substances in the Word of Wisdom?
- [22:48]
Casey
Yeah. So when it comes to the other substances, the other ones talked about seem to have been tobacco, tea and coffee. We don't have a lot about meat and things like that that are in the Word of Wisdom. There's a few sources that indicate Joseph Smith occasionally, occasionally use tobacco. For instance, it was recorded that once in Nauvoo, he tried the faith of the saints by smoking a cigar after having preached a discourse on the Word of Wisdom that is definitely an outlier because people like William Clayton are saying, I never saw him use snuff or tobacco. And another source that comes up a lot of times is that Emma Smith occasionally was known to offer a cup of tea or coffee to tired travelers. That seems to have been one thing that we'll talk about in a moment here, that some, sometimes tea especially was viewed as medicinal. And the Word of Wisdom does allow for medicinal use of these substances. Alcohol for the washing of bodies or tobacco for sick cattle and things like that. So those are the facts, at least with regards to Joseph Smith. It's the interpretation.
- [23:54]
Scott
Yeah. There's one more source about tea that I stumbled across yesterday, March 11, 1843. This is a journal entry in. In Joseph's diary. It says Joseph said that he had tea with his breakfast and his wife Emma asked him if it was good, and he said if it was a little stronger, he should like it a little better. Close quote. So we do have some. Some snapshots of him partaking, sometimes medicinally and sometimes just for breakfast. And so what do we do with that? That's a good question, right?
- [24:35]
Casey
Yeah. What do we do with it?
- [24:37]
Scott
Really?
- [24:38]
Casey
Those are the facts, what we've just stated to you. It's the interpretation of the facts where people disagree. Some critics would say this proves that Joseph didn't live the word of wisdom. But that is also resting on the assumption that the word of wisdom means the same thing to them as it does to us now, which it seems pretty clear it didn't. The revelation explicitly said it was not by commandment, and it also wasn't enforced the way it is today. They didn't even have some of the same systems that we use today, like a temple recommend or anything like that. So I think we can see from the historical record that Joseph's personal approach to observing the word of wisdom was not fanaticism. It wasn't strict prohibition. It was sort of a philosophy of moderation. Like, it doesn't seem like he went too far, but it doesn't seem like he completely abstained either, like we do today in the church.
- [25:32]
Scott
Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. I think the record shows that he took it seriously, but he didn't treat it as like a strict zero tolerance rule. Right. He spoke strongly against its excess. There's some accounts where he calls drunkenness a monster and a bane. But he also emphasized moderation and self control. He encouraged heavy drinkers to cut back. We know that. He also encouraged strict abstainers not to judge others too harshly. And honestly, that balance still feels pretty relevant today. He taught charity over condemnation. Sometimes he would highlight how people who drank, and even sometimes they got drunk, how they could still be good people. Like, for instance, on one occasion, he used the story of Noah in Genesis 9 to make the point. He said, quote, noah was a righteous man, and yet he drank wine and became intoxicated. The Lord did not forsake him in consequence thereof. And so Joseph would sometimes use scriptural examples to say, just because someone drinks and maybe drinks a little too much doesn't mean they're a bad person. And he's dealing with church members who, again, just like him, are trying to figure out how to navigate this in their own personal discipleship and what this wisdom would mean for them personally.
- [26:54]
Casey
Yeah, so that's kind of an overview of Joseph Smith and the Word of wisdom that we know from the sources. And it's probably common for people to use Joseph Smith as the exemplar of how the word of wisdom was observed in his day. It might not be fair, but that is kind of where our minds go to, Right?
- [27:12]
Scott
Yeah, totally. I read this account in. Let's see, this was the Minute Book, 1835 in Kirtland, Ohio. There's the High Council there where they're actually charging a church member named Almond Babbitt for not keeping the word of wisdom. They're kind of pulling him up and having, like, a little church council about this. And in his defense, the account says, quote, elder Babbitt was called upon to speak for himself. He said he had taken the liberty to break the word of wisdom from the example of President Joseph Smith Jr. And others. But he acknowledged that it was wrong, and that's how the account ends. So there were people watching Joseph and saying, well, maybe, how are we supposed. There is no one standard here. And so we're doing the best we can.
- [28:03]
Casey
Yeah. And I'll just add that Alan Babbitt, he's mentioned in section 124 of the Doctrine and Covenants, and he's actually kind of an important figure among the early saints. He's also kind of a son of a gun, to be honest with you. He's the kind of guy that's sort of in and out of trouble his entire life. And so I'm not surprised that Alan Babbitt would try and pull something like that. No offense to any of his descendants who are out there right now, but that is typical. The sources from this era indicate that the way church members observed the word of Wisdom was kind of all over the place, which is probably understandable, given that it just doesn't work the way back then the way it works now. There wasn't a church email that was sent out saying, this is the policy, and there wasn't really even a policy handbook, to be honest with you. There was the Scriptures and the Doctrine and Covenants, which they tried to disseminate as widely as possible. But branches were sometimes left open to their own interpretation, and you could see a wide variance from one group to another. So, for instance, if we're going back to the origin of the Word of Wisdom, some of the people that were there, like Zebedee Coltrane, he's an original member of the School of the Prophets, he recalled. These are his words. Quote, those who gave up using tobacco eased off licorice root, but there was no easing off on tea and coffee. These. They had to give up straight or their fellowship was jeopardized. So that sounds like, at least in the initial aftermath, you know, they were trying to go cold turkey when it came to at least tea and coffee, and that they were trying to find substitutes for tobacco. I guess the patch didn't exist back then, the nicotine patch. So licorice was the best thing as you're trying to stop using tobacco.
- [29:53]
Scott
Yeah. So some church members seem to take this, like, really strictly, like, as early as 1833. There's one source that indicates that a Sister Brown. Okay, so she apostatized from the church. She was a new convert. Like, I guess everybody was a new convert back then. And one of the reasons she gave for leaving the church is that when she arrived in Kirtland, Emma Smith had offered her a cup of tea or coffee after a long and arduous journey. And for her, that was enough to say, well, then, I'm out of here. So there's some that took it pretty seriously. There's other sources, too, that indicate that avoiding tea and coffee was seen as an important part of the Word of wisdom. Like in 1835, two missionaries, Wilford Woodruff and Harry Brown, surprised their hosts, Mr. Giroux and his wife, by refusing to drink coffee. So some missionaries were like, we don't do that. And I should say, too, that in 1834, there's an account where church leaders at a little conference spoke together about this issue, and then Joseph Smith gave a decision, and here's the decision, quote, that no official member in this church is worthy to hold an office after having the words of wisdom properly taught to him, and he, the official member, neglecting to comply with or obey them, after which the counselors voted to sustain that. So in 1834, we kind of have this, like, okay, should we take the Word of Wisdom seriously? Yes. Yes, we should. But then we have this very uneven living of it, all the way up to President Joseph Smith, down to the earliest convert. And so. So interesting. Like you said, it's all over the place.
- [31:34]
Casey
Yeah, well, and when we say it's all over the place, we partially mean, too, that it wasn't just. It doesn't seem like it was just being seen as a suggestion. This is a good idea. There's records that indicate it was taken really seriously, sometimes even in regards to a person's church membership. For instance, another set of records we can rely on from this period are the minutes of ecclesiastical hearings where prominent church members were involved. For example, one of the charges that was made against Oliver Cowdery during his ecclesiastical trial in 1838 was that he was violating the Word of Wisdom. And Oliver responded by saying he drank tea for medicinal purposes. So again, you could make a charge that he wasn't living the word of Wisdom. Oliver says, well, I'm doing it for my health. Which my understanding is when Oliver was excommunicated, he was in ill health. He was in ill health most of his life. At the same time, David and John Whitmer, who were Oliver's brothers in law, were also put on trial during that time. And they claimed that they used tea and coffee, but they never considered them to be hot drinks, which. It's okay. Another apostle.
- [32:52]
Scott
Spiced tea, maybe.
- [32:53]
Casey
Yeah. What are they talking about here? Another apostle, Lyman Johnson, was charged with drinking tea and coffee as well as whiskey in an ecclesiastical hearing. At the same time, the Saints in Far west also voted to not support stores that were selling any of these items. So that seems to indicate that they were taking it fairly seriously.
- [33:16]
Scott
Yeah, that's interesting. So a church member could be charged for drinking tea or coffee, but someone like David Whitmer could say, I wasn't aware that hot drinks referred to tea and coffee in the Word of Wisdom. It's like, how could you not be aware? Like, David was the stake president in Missouri.
- [33:36]
Casey
Yeah, he's a big deal.
- [33:38]
Scott
He's a big deal. Joseph even designates him as his successor in 1834. Blessing that he gives him. Although we know he's excommunicated in 1838, it was not for violating the Word of Wisdom. So, I mean, some scholars have speculated that maybe the Saints considered the use of tea and coffee forbidden except for medicinal purposes or occasional use. That might explain Oliver and Emma's uses of these substances. But again, the record's uneven here.
- [34:08]
Casey
Yeah. And it seems like they may have treated limited use of alcohol the same way the early saints would sometimes use it to remedy the effects of cholera or other similar illnesses. Now, at the same time, there's not a unified approach. Some church leaders, like Sidney Rigdon, favored a more strict interpretation of the Word of wisdom. In December 1836, Rigdon proposed that church members discontinue all use of liquor in both health and sickness. Though it doesn't seem like his counsel was followed by very many of the saints.
- [34:44]
Scott
Yeah, Sidney's a little on the stricter side is what I've gotten the vibe from historically. And kind of like if it says it's the will of the Lord, then just live it Right. That's Sidney. At the same time, excessive drinking does seem to have been pretty widely condemned. Excessive drinking. And some Latter Day Saints do lose their membership because of the excessive use of alcohol to the point of drunkenness. We can find that, for instance, in the Far West Record, page 138. But it. But it also wasn't really uncommon for saints to refer to drinking wine, certainly as a sacramental liquid. But as we've mentioned with Joseph Smith at those weddings, like sometimes on social occasions, it still felt like this was appropriate to drink wine.
- [35:31]
Casey
Yeah. Now, another peculiarity from this time is that tobacco isn't mentioned a whole lot. Now, church members did vote in 1837 to not allow the sale of tobacco in their community. And Zebedee Coltrane's observation about licorice might mean that they were using that to try and ease off using chewing tobacco. In addition, Brigham Young said that many of the men in the School of the Prophets threw away their pipes as soon as the Word of Wisdom was given. And we found some pipe shards when we did archaeological excavations of the Kirtland Ashri. Some of these probably came from church members who threw their pipes into their stoves. One of the pipe fragments actually has the name Johnson stamped on it. And so it could have been Luke or Lyman Johnson who were both parts of the School of the Prophets. In fact, you can go to the Church History Museum in Salt Lake today, and the pipe fragments that they found during the archeological excavations are on display. So it seems like there's some physical evidence that there was immediate cessation of the use of tobacco. And the fact that it's not talked about very much might mean that. Yeah, they. They took that part of the Word of Wisdom pretty seriously almost immediately as well.
- [36:44]
Scott
Yeah. To have them throw their pipes into the fireplace and say, we're giving up the tobacco right now is to say that they're taking it more than just as a word of counsel. They're kind of leaning more toward it's the will of the Lord than it is just given as a suggestion. Right. I think verse two. I've been thinking more about this. I think verse two speaks to two kinds of church members. Right. There's. There's the ones that are very. They want to. They want to strictly follow whatever God says. Right. That's a good instinct. Right. That's Sidney Rigdon. That's others who are like, it says, it's the will of the Lord, so let's do it. And then there's like the other kind of church member and there's space for this kind of church member, too, in verse two that says it doesn't say that. It says it's not given by commandment just by way of. Of greeting and wisdom. And so between those two extremes, I think we can kind of make sense of most of what's happening here.
- [37:47]
Casey
During Joseph Smith's lifetime, there are official church sources that indicate it was taken pretty seriously. For instance, that quote that we shared earlier where they said no official member of this church is worthy to hold an office after having the Words of Wisdom properly taught to him. They reprinted that again in 1836 to answer what they called, quote, frequent applications of advice respecting official members of this church relative to the Word of Wisdom. Around the same time this is published, too. The quorum of 70 voted to withdraw fellowship from members who didn't observe the Word of Wisdom. So it seems like among church officers, they took it pretty seriously. Also. The first missionaries that go outside the United States, Heber C. Kimball, and the first mission to England, which happens around 1837, reported that the Word of Wisdom. This is Heber C. Kimball's journal. He said the Word of Wisdom was almost universally attended to by the Brethren. So when they're making new converts in England, they're teaching them the Word of Wisdom, and the new converts are observing the Word of Wisdom. However, there could be exceptions. For instance, when the Saints were forced to leave Kirtland in 1838, Hyrum Smith, who's probably anticipating how difficult their journey from Ohio to Missouri is going to be, they're leaving as refugees. He counseled the Saints quote, not to be particular regarding the Word of Wisdom. So maybe under extreme circumstances, he's saying, hey, we've got a lot of trouble here. Let's go easy on each other with regards to the Word of Wisdom.
- [39:27]
Scott
That's interesting because we know on the packing list of the Nauvoo pioneers, as they're leaving to come out to Utah, that they put certain pounds of coffee as part of their, Their. Their packing list, which is.
- [39:38]
Casey
Yeah, so, so interesting. If you're in. If you're in Exodus mode, maybe the, The Word of Wisdom would dial down a little bit because, you know. Well, well, no, I'm thinking here, like, coffee is something that you can pack and that stays fresh and that, you know, it's like the trail mix of its day where, where if. If you have a long journey, it's something that you could keep with you and use to make meals more palatable as you go and maybe help with not Having a lot of fresh water
- [40:11]
Scott
sources as you're traveling, because you gotta boil. You gotta boil your water when you make coffee, and that actually kills a lot of the contaminants in the water. So that's good.
- [40:21]
Casey
Yeah, so that might be like letting your scouts have an energy drink while they're on a hike, but you'd never give it to them, you know, on Sunday, right before they pass the sacrament. I don't know.
- [40:32]
Scott
Different times, different times. Missionary journals, they'll, like, talk about the different groups of saints that they. That they meet and how well they observe the Word of Wisdom. Like Orson Hyde, for instance, he serves over in Pillow Point, Ohio, and he says the saints there fail to live the Word of Wisdom. Then he says, but all the eight members over in Suffield, Ohio, do live it. And then he said, but the branch of the church over in Lavona, Ohio, lack the enjoyment of the spirit in consequence of their neglect to keep the Word of Wisdom. So he's kind of tracking church members based on their observance of Word of Wisdom. Here's a funny line from W.W. phelps. I don't think he intended it to be funny, but he wrote to his wife Sally about how strict some of the saints in Kirtland were about the Word of Wisdom. He said, quote, you are not aware how much sameness there is among the saints in Kirtland. They drink cold water and don't even mention tea and coffee. Close.
- [41:34]
Casey
They're hardcore. Right?
- [41:36]
Scott
Yeah. So we just got done talking about how there's, like a wide variance and then. But. But Phelps is like, no, they're all the same. They're all the same. They just drink cold water and they don't.
- [41:44]
Casey
Well, he's talking about the saints in Kirtland. I think Phelps was primarily in Missouri during this time, so maybe there was a little, you know, difference between one church center to another. And again, we're trying to put together a picture of the whole church, which is almost impossible from a few fragmentary sources. But here's a couple more. In the mid-1830s and as late as 1840, there's records of church members being expelled from the church for violating the Word of Wisdom. For instance, in 1835, Chester L. Heath and Milo Hayes were both excommunicated for this reason we mentioned, Alan Babbitt gets in trouble for violating the Word of wisdom. In 1840, a man named John Lawson lost his fellowship for a time because of violations of the Word of Wisdom. But we should note that it seems like among all These excommunications, the Word of Wisdom was considered to be a factor, but usually not the sole factor in their discipline from the church. So just to take Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer as an example, they're prominent members. Violating the Word of Wisdom was one of the charges against them. I think there's nine charges against Oliver Cowdery. And so I don't know if we have any record of anybody being excommunicated just for violating the Word of Wisdom, maybe for excessive drunkenness. But it seems like there was usually more than one reason why they would initiate church discipline.
- [43:10]
Scott
Yeah, I was going to point that out too, that I have not read a record where it was just the Word of Wisdom. That's why they excommunicated. Like even the Almond Babbitt Council that they held. I skipped the part where they also charged him with preaching that the Book of Mormon was not essential for salvation. So it's. So he taught that. And then they also went after him for some breaking the Word of Wisdom. So it does seem to be part of a list like that. The Word of Wisdom itself was not enough to get a church council called, but if you had that, plus a couple other things, probably that's. That's my reading of the sources too. So, yeah, I'm glad you pointed that out. And so by the time we get to Nauvoo, it seems like the Word of Wisdom is. Is obviously important to the Saints by that time. Like In February of 1841, the Nauvoo City Council prohibited liquor and declared that rule would. If he violated it, it would be punishable by a $25 fine. The Nauvoo House Charter prohibited the use or sell of liquor on the premises. This seems significant because according to DNC124, the Nauvoo House was intended to be the place in Nauvoo where non Latter Day Saints were first welcomed to the city. So that's interesting.
- [44:27]
Casey
Right?
- [44:27]
Scott
And. And yet, as we pointed out in 1843, Joseph authorized Theodore Turley to have a brewery. So again, beer, a mild barley drink, was differently viewed than was a liquor store. Right. When the cornerstone of the Nauvoo Temple was laid in 1841, April 6, Joseph noted his pride that, quote, we have heard no obscene language. Neither saw we anyone intoxicated. He then continued, can the same be said of a similar assemblage in any other city in the Union? Thank God that the intoxicating beverage, that bane of humanity in these last days is becoming a stranger In Nauvoo. So that's obviously not neutral.
- [45:11]
Casey
Yeah. And I mean, during this time, Joseph Smith would also give sermons where he spoke against alcohol. For instance, in his history, he recorded, quote, I spoke at great length on the use of liquors and showed that it was unnecessary and operates as a poison in the stomach and that roots and herbs can be found to affect all necessary purposes. And again, not just Nauvoo, there's other stakes. For instance, there's a stake across the river in Montrose, Iowa. They vote to, quote, disfellowship all brethren who persist in keeping tippling shops in that branch of the church. And a tippling shop was 19th century slang for a liquor store. So I'm going to try and bring that back. I'm going to say to someone, hey, there's a tippling shop, or, we don't really need a tippling shop in Saratoga Springs or something like that.
- [46:04]
Scott
And we know, too, that as Nauvoo grew in size and influence and began to become more of a cosmopolitan center, the Saints seemed to relax a little on their attitudes toward alcohol. In a July 1841 meeting of the Nauvoo city council, Joseph Smith, quote, moved that any person in the city of Nauvoo be at liberty to sell vinous liquors in any quantity subject to the city ordinances. Vinous liquors.
- [46:32]
Casey
Vinous liquors. Yeah.
- [46:33]
Scott
We should note that vinous liquors refer specifically to alcohol that is made by the use of grapes. All right, so that. That seems to correspond to the Saints less strict attitudes toward wine. And then in two years later, once Joseph Smith is the mayor in Nauvoo, they pass an. They call an ordinance for the health and convenience of travelers and other purposes. Here's what it says. Quote. Be it ordained by the city council of the city of Nauvoo that the mayor of the city is hereby authorized to sell or give spirits of any quantity. He in his wisdom, shall judge to be for the health, comfort, or convenience of such travelers or other persons as shall visit his house from time to time. So that's December 1843. So they are starting to be a lot more accommodating to the traveler for health, comfort, and convenience of such travelers.
- [47:29]
Casey
Yeah, it seems like hospitality was kind of a factor during this time. Joseph Smith's son recorded that in late 1842, Joseph Smith wanted to equip and operate a bar in the mansion House, which was intended to be a hotel for visitors to Nauvoo. And we sometimes misunderstand that. We Go to Nauvoo and there's the mansion house. I've even had students go, man. If Joseph was such a man of the people, why does he live in the mansion house? The mansion house is a hotel. It's not Joseph Smith's house. He rented a room there, and after a few weeks, he actually moved into the servants quarters so that the room that he was staying in could be used by visitors. It appears, and this is all according to Joseph Smith iii, who writes this several decades later, that Joseph Smith stopped his efforts to build a bar in the mansion house because Emma intervened and she protested and that discouraged him and eventually he just gives it up altogether. So again, hospitality might have been one of those things that plays into this as well.
- [48:38]
Scott
And we know that Joseph did sell beer over in his red brick store. That was on the menu. We see that in the ledger. That beer was sold. And I was sad when our church purchased the red brick store. I was happy for a lot of reasons, Casey, but I was sad that Joseph Smith's root beer is no longer sold there. I love the root beer in the red brick store.
- [48:56]
Casey
Yeah, that was kind of sad. That was a highlight of going to Nauvoo is to get a. Our groups would always get a root beer in the red brick store. But, you know, someone will fill that gap soon, I'm sure.
- [49:08]
Scott
I'm sure. Okay.
- [49:09]
Casey
So, by the way, I want to emphasize root beer.
- [49:12]
Scott
That's great.
- [49:13]
Casey
When you said, I'm really sad, I thought you were going to say because they used to sell beer. We should point out that when that's true, I own the red brick store. They never sold any alcoholic beverages. They were upright citizens and good stewards of the property.
- [49:26]
Scott
Good. Yes. Let me be clear. Joseph Smith sold beer. Community of Christ sold root beer.
- [49:31]
Casey
Yeah.
- [49:32]
Scott
Which I liked.
- [49:33]
Casey
Good clarification. Good root beer too.
- [49:35]
Scott
Yeah, Good root beer. Okay, so let's kind of. Let's land the plane here, Casey, and kind of make some observations based on a non exhaustive survey of all the sources. But I think a pretty good, like, sampling of the sources about what was happening in Joseph Smith's lifetime. I think it's fair to say that the historical record shows that there was no single universal. Like everyone needs to live the word of wisdom this way. In the 1830s and 1840s, observance tended to sort of have a range right. Of strict temperance to sort of casual moderation, kind of reflecting that verse two of the word of wisdom. Principle of this was not given by commandment or constraint.
- [50:22]
Casey
Right, yeah, yeah. And again, we want to credit the scholars we're using. Paul Peterson's thesis has informed a lot of our discussion today. And this is the conclusion that Paul Peterson reaches. He said, quote, in short, it would seem that adherence to the revelation in the 1830s and 40s required Church members to be moderately temperate, but certainly did not require total abstinence. And I'll just point out that was one of the surprises to me was I've always taught this kind of. As well, the word of wisdom was just seen as like, wise in Joseph Smith's time. And so we shouldn't expect Joseph Smith to have strictly adhered to it. But my dive into the sources this time sort of showed that, no, there were some serious attempts to basically say, hey, this is something that's important to us and you need to take it seriously. If they didn't practice strict abstinence the way we do today, it was something that was important to them. And it seems like really early on, like that lady that leaves the church because she's so shocked that Emma Smith gave her a cup of tea does kind of indicate that at least among the early members of the church, it was taken seriously.
- [51:36]
Scott
Yeah. I think we could summarize and say Joseph Smith and early members view the word of wisdom as a divine principle of health, but they lived it through a lens of moderation and agency rather than sort of a strict commandment level prohibition. Although there are some moments where it does seem to be like they're holding people accountable for that. But that's complicated by the fact that those people were also guilty of other more serious charges. And so word of wisdom was then thrown in. So it's so interesting.
- [52:13]
Casey
Yeah. And let me add to that statement where Orson Hyde is basically like saying, well, this branch was totally living the word of wisdom and this branch wasn't. Does kind of show the differences between our time and now. We get a memo from, we get an email, an official communication from the church and all of a sudden, boom, everything's changed. Women can be witnesses in baptismal services. And we're going to change the way that we do the Sunday meeting schedule. We're going to do a full sacrament meeting and then 30, 30 for elders, quorum, Relief Society and Sunday school. And it just changes that fast. In the early church, it's a missionary coming to your branch and emphasizing the word of wisdom. And we'd never do this today, but maybe publicly, like saying, how many of you are living the word of wisdom, show of hands kind of thing. And so part of this has to do with the way that information is disseminated in the 19th century. And you're going to expect to find a little bit of variance among the different branches of the church as to how they follow a commandment like the Word of Wisdom.
- [53:17]
Scott
Yeah, well said. So there was nothing in that time that approached anything like a temple recommend type of a question for the Word of Wisdom. It's. It's safe to say that. And I think. I think by understanding the. The messy, diverse, and sometimes practical ways that early saints, including Joseph Smith, navigated the Word of Wisdom, I think modern church members like us, I think it can help us better appreciate the historical evolution of. Of church practice on this principle with the promise, how it went from Joseph's time to where we're at today. As a more. I'd call it a strict measure of orthopraxy. Right. This is a temple recommend question now. And so we are not done with our explorations of this. In fact, we're just getting started. So I guess the question for our next episode and following is, so how did we go from there in Joseph Smith's day to getting to where we're at today in how we observe and think about the Word of Wisdom?
- [54:22]
Casey
Yeah, and there's lots of twists and turns along the way and a lot of factors, including economics, that affect the story as we go. So there's still a lot of ups and downs. We may have covered Joseph Smith's time, and some people only see that particular time as being relevant in the history of the church. But if you want to know where we get to where we're at right now, we got to get the whole journey in. So next time, I think we're going to dive into Brigham Young and his observance of the Word of Wisdom and how the saints followed it in his day.
- [54:53]
Scott
Sounds like a party. Okay, we'll see you next week. Thanks, Casey.
- [54:57]
Casey
All right, thanks, Scott.
- [55:09]
Scott
Sa.