"Will you love your brothers and sisters likewise, when they have committed a sin that cannot be atoned for without the shedding of their blood? Will you love that man or woman well enough to shed their blood? That is what Jesus Christ meant.”
I think I would have loved Brigham enough to shed his blood.
LONG time ago, I read a quote attributed to BY which essentially said we shouldn't worry that others (ourselves?) may be hypocritical b/c we're not perfect (in reality, of course, no one is!)
Two ways of looking at this:
a. It's therefore OK to be a hypocrite;
b. We shouldn't gloat over others' shortcomings <Don't Worry, Be Happy>.
I haven't seen this "quote" in a long time.
by contrast, in today's world, Mormons are among if not the Most judgmental people on the face of the earth!!
Someone told me Brigham Young once referred to pants made out of denim (don't know if they were referred to as 'Jeans' in the 19th century) as 'Fornication Pants'.
In Brigham's day, men's pants were of the variety now called "barn door" pants. The Amish still wear them and you can easily find photos on the web. As you will see in those photos, there is no opening in the front-center of these pants. The pants Brigham was talking about were the newer style, button-up front and center.
Brigham being the filthy minded, sex obsessed, asshole that he was, was of the opinion that this style made "access" too easy and therefore encouraged or contributed to fornication.
“Since the founding of the Roman empire monogamy has prevailed more extensively than in times previous to that. The founders of that ancient empire were robbers and women stealers, and made laws favoring monogamy in consequence of the scarcity of women among them, and hence
THIS MONOGAMIC SYSTEM WHICH NOW PREVAILS THROUGHOUT CHRISTENDOM, AND WHICH HAD BEEN SO FRUITFUL A SOURCE OF PROSTITUTION AND WHOREDOM
throughout all the Christian monogamic cities of the Old and New World, until rottenness and decay are at the root of their institutions both national and religious.”
(Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, p. 128 archive.org)