History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

370
M0RM0NISM AND POLYGAMY.
the bigotry of fanatics, causes them to be feared and
hated by their neighbors.
Polygamy, as a tenet of the Mormon church, is
based upon scripture example, and if this is unlaw-
ful, it says, all is unlawful. Marriage is ordained of
God, and essential to salvation. Christian sects
hold up the patriarchs as examples in their sacred
instruction, and yet condemn in these personages a
practice which Christ nowhere condemns. While
in polygamy, God blessed them and their polygamous
seed, saying never a word about their plural
wives. Polygamy was common in Asia at the time
of the apostles; yet none of them preached against
it, nor does John the revelator mention it, writing
to the seven churches. In the days of Justin Martyr,
the Jews practised polygamy. It is true that the
emperor Theodosius, about a. d. 393, promulgated a
law against polygamy, but it was repealed sixty years
after by Valentinian. Nevertheless, as the civilized
world, particularly Christian sects, regarded the practice
with abhorrence, the prophet Joseph inquired of
the Lord as to what he should do. And the Lord
answered, commanding him to restore all things, the
practice of polygamy among the rest. The revelation
on this subject is given entire in note 19 of this chapter.
The inferior order of wifehood, known in the
sacred scriptures as concubinage, is not recognized in
the Mormon church. By the marriage covenant, all
are made wives, and all children are legitimate.
Celestial marriage and the plural-wife system, as
incorporated parts of the Mormon religion, are essential
to the fulness of exaltation in the eternal world.
The space around us, it declares, is inhabited by spirits,
thousands of years old, awaiting tabernacles in the
flesh, which can' be legitimately furnished them only
by marriage and procreation; and bodies cannot be
obtained for these spirits fast enough unless men have
more wives than one. It is the will and glory of God