The Manifesto was not a divine production but something manufactured to outwit the church's enemies.

We are called with a special calling, and we have a special mission to perform.

President Wilford Woodruff is a man of wisdom and experience, and we respect and venerate him, but we do not believe his personal views or utterances are revelations from God and when Thus saith the Lord, comes from him, the saints investigate it: they do not shut their eyes and take it down like a pill.

I, Charles W. Penrose, wrote the Manifesto with the assistance of Frank J. Cannon and John White... Wilford Woodruff signed it to beat the devil at his own game.