2. Marriage is not a civil contract with the Latter- day Saints, but a sacrament of the Church, and a sacred tenet of the faith. Matrimony, moreover, as practiced by the IMormons, is an institution so peculiar to them- selves, they having introduced into the modern social system the polygamic system, that their marriage ser- vice is a most important rite. Mormons are in every possible way encouraged to be polygamists, and are reminded of the revelation given to the Prophet that " the rank and dignity given to the Saints in the other world is proportioned to the number of their wives and children." It is true that polygamy is not, as many suppose, essential to their religious system, yet it has entered so largely into the marital relations of the Lat- ter-day Saints of Utah as to give them a most ob- noxious record in the sight of all other Christian re- ligious sects. As we have seen above, in their earlv his-
A Moimou E ipti^m
tory the Mormons clearly rebuked pcilygamy {Booh of Mormon: Jacob, ch. ii, p. 118 sq.). From 1830 to 1843 they were monogamists; but in the latter of these years, as we have also seen. Smith obtained a rev- elation permitting, and even recommending, a plurality of wives. (They reject the word " polygamy," and prefer the term jilurulism.) Still, pluralism does not appear to have become the general practice among the Mormons till their journey across the prairies to the valley of the Salt Lake. Since then it has been openly avowed, and defended against other sects by an appeal to Script- ure. Tracts, dialogues, and hymns are circulated in j its behalf. Says Stenhouse, " Tens of thousands of ser- mons have been preached on its divine origin; volu- minous treatises have been published in its exposition, and the Mormon press has teemed with articles in its defence" (p. 183). And even the " pluralistic" marriage ceremony has been published. To afford our readers a fuller understanding of the Mormon vice of " pluralism," we here insert in full the special "revelation" which they claim to have had.
" CELESTIAL MARRIAGE : "a eevelation on tiik pateiaeouai, oi:der of matki-
-MONY, ok PLURALITV OF WUJlS.
" Given to Joseph Smith, the Seer, in Xauvoo, July 12, 1842.
"1. Verily, then saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, tlie Lord, justilied my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David, and Solomon, my servants, as touchinir the prin- ciple and doctrine of their having many wives and con- cubines : Behold ! and lo, I am the Lo"rd thy God, and will answer thee as touching this matter: Therefore pre- pare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you ; for all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same; for behold ! I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant, and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory; for all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as was instituted from before the lonnrtations of the world; and as per- taining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was in- stituted for the fulne.-s of my glmy; and he that receiv- eth a fulness thereof must and l^llalI abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God.
"2. And verily I say unto you that the conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts^ bonds, ob- ligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associ-
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MORMONS
ations, or expectations that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Uoly Spirit of promise, of him who i? aiioiuied, both as well for time aud for ail eternity, and that, too, most holy, by revelation aud commandment, through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have ap- pointed on the earth to hold this power (aud I have ap- pointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in tlie last days, and there is never but oue on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of the priesthood are conferred), are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead : for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an eud when men are dead.
"3. Behold! mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion. Will I accept of an ofTeriup, saith the Lord, that is not made in my name? Or will I receive at your hands that which I have not appointed ? Aud will I appoint imco yon, saith the Lord, except it be by law, even as I and my Father ordained unto you before the world was? I am the Lord thy God, aud I give unto you this commandment, that no man shall come unto the Father but by me, or by my word, which is my law, saith the Lord ; and everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men by thrones or principalities or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be that are not by me or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown clown, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your (Jod; for whatsoever things remaineth are by me, and whatsoever thiugs are not by me shall be shaken and destroyed.