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Show 4 In the Book of Jacob, chapter iii, verse 5, there is reference to "the Commandment of the Lord which was given unto our fathers that they should not have save z't were one wife, and concubines they should liave none." Also Jacob ii, 24th verse: "Behold David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable be~ore me, saith the Lord." And in the 27th verse of the same chapter 1t reads: "Wherefore my brethren, hear me, and hearken unto the word of the Lord; for there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife, for I the Lord God delighteth in the chastity of woman." Now, all the world knows. that the Mormons have been teaching polygamy for forty-four years and practicing it for more than fif~y. There is no reverence for even the Book of Mormon or respect for 1ts teaching as a so-called "Word of God. H Nor do they honestly make their doctrines and practices consistent therewith. Up to 1852 the Mormons indignantly denied that they either taught or practiced polygamy, and pointed to the teaching of the Book of Mormon to prove that they did not. And they said that all charges to the contrary were false and slanderous, invented by their enemies to injure them. And yet Apostle J. M. Grant bore unintentional testimony to the truth of the charges in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, February 19, 1854, as follows: ''When the family organization was revealed from heaven, the patriarchal order of God, and Joseph (who died in 1844) began on the right and on the left, to add to his family, what a quaking there was in Israel ! Says one brother to another : 'Joseph says all covenants are done away, and none are binding but the new covenants. Now, suppose Joseph should come and say he wanted your wife, what would you say to that?' 'I would tell him to go to hell.' This is the spirit of many in the early days of the church. What would a man of God say, who felt aright, when Joseph asked him for his money? He would say, 'Yes, and I wish I had more to help to build up the Kingdom of God.' Or if he came and said, 'I want your wife.' ·, Oh, yes,' he would say, 'here she is: there are plenty more.' Did the prophet Joseph want every man's wife he asked for? He did not. But in that thing was the grand thread of the priesthood developed. The grand object in view was to try the people of God; to see what was in them. If such a man of God should come to me and say, 'I want your gold and silver, or your wives,' I should say, 'Here they are; I wish I had more to give you; take all I have got."' The XI th Article reads : "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our consc£ences, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship liow, where and what they may." T?at is good do~trine. The people of the United States believe, pract1~e and defend it. sacredlf- The Mormons, with all their strange worship, have never m any mstance been deprived of the right to '.' worship ho!" and 7i!here a11d what they may." Only when they have mterf ered with the nghts of others, disturbed the domestic affairs and broken up the homes of other people have they been interfered with and when they have taught and practiced polygamy contrary to th; laws ~f th~ land, as well as the laws of God, to the subversion of the Amencan idea of. ho~e, and the utter destruction of the purity and sacredness of _family hfe-then they have been arrested and punished. And when the_ir elde:s have led away the wives and daughters of other ~en ~o replemsh their own harems, t~ey have sometimes been killed by mfunated husbands and. fathers, as m the_ case of their great apostle, Parly P. Pratt, who enticed away the wife of a peaceful citizen of |
