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Show MORMON CHURCH. POLYGAMY. 129 is not ordained of God ; for marriage is ordained of God unto man : wherefore it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation, and that it might be filled with the measure of man according to his crea tion.* The most remarkable and explicit of all authority on the subject is contained in an appendix to the Book of Doctrines and Covenants, which was published after the date of the pretended revelation authorizing polygamy, and the quotation itself purports to be a revelation, strange as it may seem, re ceived about the time of the one entirely contradicting it. It reads as follows : " Marriage should be celebrated with prayer and thanks giving, and at the solemnization the persons to be married standing together, etc., he ( the person officiating) shall say, calling each by their names, ' you do mutually agree to be each other's companions, husband and wife, observing the legal rights belonging to this condition, that is, keeping yourselves whollyfor each andfrom all others during your lives,' and when they shall have answered, ' yes,' he shall pronounce them husband and wife, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of the laws of the country ( which prohibit polygamy) and by authority vested in him. " " Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again." f I have already quoted from the Book of Mormon to show the universality of the application of its precepts to the whole church. Then we have in their New Testament a passage enjoining obedience to such teachings as had already been received, which reads: " Thou shalt take the things which thou hast received * Ibid. p. 218. fBook of Doctrines and Covenants, pp. 330, 331. |
