g" for an eternal state was
introduced. Also the Saints were given to understand that their
marriage relations with each other were not valid, and that those
who had solemnized the rites of matrimony had no authority of God
to do so. The true priesthood had been taken from the earth with
the death of the apostles and inspired men of God. Since then
people were married to each other only by their own covenants,
and if their marriage had not been productive of blessings and
peace, and they felt it oppressive to remain together, they were
at liberty to make a new choice, as much as if they had not been
married. The Prophet taught that it was a sin for people to live
together and beget children in alienation from each other. There
should exist an affinity between the sexes, not a lustful one, as
the latter can never cement the love and affection that should
exist between man and wife.

Perhaps I should mention that Orson Hyde and W. W. Phelps turned
against Joseph in Missouri, and forsook him in time of peril and
danger and testified against him in the courts. After the
troubles were over, and Joseph was again in place in the midst of
the Saints, they both wished to be restored to fellowship and
standing in the Church, confessing their faults. Joseph laid the
case before the Church, and said that if God could forgive them
he ought to, and would do so, and give them another chance. With
tears he moved that we forgive and receive them back into
fellowship. He then sent Elder Hyde to the land of Palestine, to
dedicate that land for the gathering of the Jews. Also Hyde's
wife, with his consent, was sealed to Joseph for an eternal
state. Brigham's wife was likewise sealed to Joseph. Shortly
before the death of Joseph Brigham told me that Joseph's time on
earth was short, and that the Lord allowed him privileges that we
could not have.

There was trouble between Joseph and Brother Law, his second
counselor, on account of Law's wife. Law said that the Prophet
purposed making her his wife, and she so reported to her husband.
Law loved his wife and was devoted to her, as she was an amiable
and handsome woman, and he did not feel like giving her up to
another man. He exposed the Prophet, and from that time became
his enemy.

His brother, Wilson Law, sided with him. They were Canadians, and
wealthy and influential men. They, in connection with Foster and
Higbee, who were on the wane in the faith, established a paper at
Nauvoo,