June 7th

June 7, 1844 - William Law, Joseph Smith's second counselor, publishes the first and only edition of THE NAUVOO EXPOSITOR (intended to be a weekly paper), which exposes the practice of polygamy in Nauvoo The newspaper asserted that Smith had "introduced false and damnable doctrines into the church" such as "the plurality of wives," which "are taught secretly, and denied openly" and amount to "abominations and whoredoms." It also references the teaching by Joseph Smith that there is more than one God, and Joseph Smith's 1844 ordination as king on earth. Law writes in his journal this day that the EXPOSITOR is "rich with facts, such expositions, as make the guilty tremble and rage.… 1000 sheets were struck and five hundred mailed forthwith." Although Law and his associates see Joseph as a corrupt and fallen prophet the EXPOSITOR maintains that the editors "know of a surety, that the religion of the Latter Day Saints as originally taught by Joseph Smith, which is contained in the Old and New Testament, Book of Covenants, and Book of Mormon, is true; and that the pure principles set forth in those books, are the immutable and eternal principles of Heaven, and speaks a language which, when spoken in truth and virtue, sinks deep into the heart of every honest man."
In London Wilford Woodruff learns of a plot by anti-Mormons to copyright the Doctrine & Covenants for themselves and thereby deprive Mormons of the ability to print their own scriptures in England. Woodruff hastily obtains copyright in his own name on the same day.

June 7, 1856 - The LATTER DAY SAINTS MILLENIAL STAR published in London, says Mormon missionaries in South Africa avoid contact with the Kaffir and Fingoe populations because they had "too much of the blood of Cain in them, for the Gospel to have much effect on their dark spirits."

June 7, 1890 - Ten couples accompanied by Apostle Brigham Young, Jr., and his intended polygamous wife arrive in Mexico. Young started from Logan on a train bound for Mexico and "sent word through the grapevine that if there was any couples up in this area, these stakes, that contemplated marrying into polygamy that they were to catch this train. They went down to Cache Junction. They caught the train there and went to Salt Lake. There was others that went with them. They went down there [to Mexico] and Brigham Young Jr. married another polygamous wife and he had several wives." The day they arrive Alexander F. Macdonald performs the polygamous marriages for all eleven couples.

June 7, 1893 - Francis M. Lyman and his plural wife Susan Callister Lyman are first persons to receive second anointing in Salt Lake temple's "Holy of Holies." Apostle Abraham H. Cannon and his wives receive the second second anointings there on the same day. Cannon writes: "At 5 o'clock I went to the Temple where I met my folks, we having received permission from Pres. Woodruff to receive our second anointings. Father [First Counselor George Q. Cannon] was there to perform the ceremony. Bro. Lyman was also there to be with his wife Susan D. Callister Lyman as she received this blessing. Father anointed and spoke the words, John D. T. McAllister held the horn, and Lorenzo Snow and John R. Winder were the witnesses. Sister Lyman was first anointed in the presence of us all, she thus being the first to receive this blessing in this building. I then received mine, and my wives followed in the order of their marriages. I felt very much pleased to be thus favored."

June 7, 1922 - Apostle and out-going Salt Lake Temple president George F. Richards records in a memorandum his accomplishments as Temple president including contributions to the Endowment ceremony: "I represented having discussed with associates in the temple the advisability of instituting a change in the procedure of placing the Endowment Robes on the individuals receiving endowments the present method being to first place the robe on the right shoulder, subsequently change it to the left shoulder, and later again back to the right shoulder. The proposed change would be to place the robe first on the Left shoulder, and retain it there until after the Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood has been given, then to change it to the Right shoulder, in conformity with the giving of the Tokens of the Melchizedek Priesthood, thus obviating one of the changes heretofore made, and more effectively indicating transition from the lower to the higher orders of the Priesthood. After considering carefully the proposed change, the Presidency decided unanimously that from that time on the Robe should first be placed on the Left shoulder, and be changed to the Right shoulder at the time the Endowment candidates are going to enter the Terrestrial World room. The necessary changes in the text, to conform with this decision, are to be made in the new books of rules, etc. that are to be issued to the Temple Presidents."

June 7, 1933 - Heber J. Grant tells BYU's graduating class: "If every other state in the Union repeals the Eighteenth Amendment, I hope Utah is the one bright star that remains."

June 7, 1951 - First Presidency appoints three apostles to administer second anointings to designated couples.

June 7, 1954 - First Presidency letter allows young men and women to be sealed to their parents "at any time prior to their reaching the age of 21. This supersedes the earlier rulings on the question which made a difference between the young men and the young women in respect to the age limits governing them in this matter."

June 7, 1975 - President Spencer W. Kimball announces his resignation from management positions of church corporations to more fully serve spiritual needs of church. His associates in Presidency and Twelve continue extensive corporate management roles until 1996.

June 7, 1983 - Before an audience of some 400 people, Eugene England, professor of English at BYU, and Rev. George Nye, senior minister of the First Baptist Church in Salt Lake City, debated the topic "Are Mormons Christian?"

June 7, 1992. - Elder Dallin H. Oaks, in a BYU fireside address, delivers a twenty-point address entitled, "Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall." Among the strengths which, if excessive or unbalanced, become weaknesses are "unusual commitment to one particular doctrine or commandment, . . . a strong desire to understand . . . the gospel . . . past the fringes of orthodoxy, seeking answers to mysteries rather than a firmer understanding and a better practice of the basic principles"

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