Polygamy?" It is of the utmost importance that we proceed to the
discussion of this question and the unfolding of its elements at
once; and therefore, that we lose no time, we propose to analyze the
question. I had desired nine hours to speak on this great subject;
but by mutual consent the time has been reduced to three. In view of
this fact I, therefore, proceed at once to the consideration of the
elements of the question "Does the Bible sanction Polygamy?" Every word
is emphatic. Does the Bible--the Bible--God's word, whether in the
original text or in the translation which is accepted by Christendom,
as the revealed will of God; this old book which has come down from the
hoary past; this old book written by different men, under different
circumstances, yet for one great and grand object; this book that comes
to us under the authority of plenary inspiration, no matter what has
become of the manuscripts, whether lost in the flood or consumed in the
flame that burned the doomed Persepolis, no matter what has been their
destiny, we have the original, the Hebrew, the Septuagint and the Greek
translations; in the New Testament the Greek, which have been and are
accepted by the most eminent Biblical scholars; therefore the point
the gentleman makes that so many manuscripts are lost, is a bagatelle.
I throw it away, as useless as a rush. Would he have me infer that
because some manuscripts are lost, therefore that book is not the
authentic word of God and the revealed will of High Heaven? No; for him
to assume that is to assume that that book is not God's will. Supposing
that the original revelation, the pretended revelation, that you, here,
were to practise polygamy, was consumed in the flames by the wife of
Joseph Smith, does that invalidate the preserved copy which Mr. Joseph
Smith had in his bosom? Certainly not. I hold therefore that that old
book comes to us with authority; and that whatever has become of the
manuscripts which have been furnished, formed, arranged and handed down
to us, that is our standard.
I am here to speak to the people, and I will be an organ to you in the
name of the Lord.
But let us look at this book. It is a book of history and of biography,
of prophecy and precepts; of promises and of miracles; of laws and
precepts; of promises and threatenings; of poetry and of narrative.
It is to be judged by the ordinary rules of grammar, of rhetoric and
of logic. It is written in human language. There is a language spoken
by the persons in the Godhead, and had God revealed himself in that
language we could not have understood the terms. There is a language
spoken by the angels that blaze before the throne; had God spoken to
us in angelic language we could not have understood the terms. But
he took human language, with all its poverty and imperfections, and
with all its excellencies. He has spoken to us in terms by which we
can understand his pleasure concerning us. But it is a great fact, my
friends, that all that is written in the Bible is neither approved
by the Almighty, nor was it written for our imitation. Achan stole a
Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold. God did not approve the theft,
nor are those acts recorded in the Bible for our imitation. We are to
read Bible history as we read Xenophon, Tacitus, and Herodotus, and, in
modern times, Hume, Gibbon and Bancroft, with this distinction--when we
take down Herodotus, Tacitus, or others I have not mentioned, we are
not always sure that what we read is true, but we are sure that what is
recorded in the Bible is true, whether it be prophetic truth, mandatory
truth or historic truth. We should therefore make a distinction,
according to the kind of composition we are reading. If we are reading
history, read it as history, and make a distinction between what is
simply recorded as part and parcel of the record of a great nation, or
part and parcel of the record or biography of some eminent man, and
that which is recorded there for our imitation, for which we shall
have to give an account at God's bar. So take the poetry of the Bible.
Scriptural poetry is subject to the same rules as the poetry in Homer,
Virgil, Milton or Young, with this exception--that the poetry of the
Bible is used to convey a grand thought, and there is no redundancy of
thought or imagery in Bible poetry.
We come to biography, and to my mind it is a sublime fact, and one
for which I thank God, that the inspired writers were impartial in
recording biographical history. They recorded the virtues and the
vices of men; they did not disguise the faults even of their eminent
friends, nor did they always stop to pronounce condemnation upon such;
but they recorded one and the other, just as they came along the stream
of time. It is this book, therefore, that is my standard in this
discussion, and it is composed of the Old and New Testament. The New
Testament holds the relation to the Old Testament of a commentary, in
a prominent sense. Christ comes along and gives an exposition of the
law of Moses; comes and gives an exposition of some of those grand
principles which underlie Christianity: and then his references to the
law of Moses simply prove this--that what Moses has said is true. Take
his exposition of the Ten Commandments, as they were given amid the
thunders of Mount Sinai, and you find that he has written a commentary
on the Decalogue, bringing out its hidden meaning, showing to us that
the man is an adulterer who not only marries more women than one, but
who looks on a woman with salacial lust. Such is the commentary on the
law, by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now does this book, the Old Testament and the New? Not what revelation
has been made to the Latter-day Saints; that is not to be brought
into this controversy; that is not the question in dispute. Whether
Joseph Smith or any other member of the Church of Latter-day Saints
has had a revelation from God; whether the holy canon was closed by
the apocalyptic revelations to John on the Isle of Patmos--even that
question is not to be dragged into this controversy. Neither the Mormon
Bible, nor the Book of Covenants, nor the revelations of yesterday or
to-day, or any other day; but the grand question is, Does that old
book--read in old England, read in Wales, read in Ireland, read in
Norway and Sweden, and read in this land of liberty--does that book
sanction polygamy?
We now come to another important word--namely, does the Bible
sanction? Sanction! By the term sanction we mean command, consequently
the authority of positive, written, divine law, or whatever may be
reasonably held as equivalent to such law. It follows, therefore, that
toleration is not sanction. Sufferance is not sanction. Municipal
legislation is not sanction. An historical statement of prevailing
customs is not sanction. A faithful narrative of the life and example
of eminent men is not sanction. The remission of penalty is not
sanction. A providential blessing, bestowed upon general principles,
for an ulterior purpose, is not sanction. The only adequate idea of
sanction is the divine and positive approbation, plainly expressed,
either in definite statute or by such forms of conformation as
constitute a full and clear equivalent. It is in this sense that we
take the term sanction in the question before us.
The next word in the question is, "Does the Bible sanction Polygamy?"
By which we mean, as it (the Bible) now stands. Not as it once was,
but as it now is; that is, the Bible taken as a whole. The question
is not, Did the Bible formerly sanction Polygamy? But rather, Does
it, at the present day, authorize and establish and approve it? Just
as we may say of the Constitution of the United States, not, Did it
sanction slavery? but, does it now sanction it? For it is a well known
principle of jurisprudence that if any thing have been repealed in
the supreme law of the land, which that law once authorized, then it
no longer sanctions the matter in question. It is so here, precisely;
for let us suppose for a moment that it could be proved that the
Bible once sanctioned polygamy, in the sense excepted, and that this
sanction has never been withdrawn, then we are bound to admit that the
affirmative has been sustained; but supposing, on the other hand, that
the Bible, as it is now, to-day, does not sanction polygamy, then we
have sustained the negative of the question.
There is another word, and one of importance, and that is the term
polygamy. There are three words in this connection which should be
referred to. The first is polygamy, which is from the the Greek polus,
and gamos, the former meaning "many," and the latter "marriage" and
signifies a plurality of wives or husbands at the same time. When a
man has more wives than one, or a woman more husbands than one, at
the same time, the offender is punishable for polygamy. Such is the
fact in Christian countries. Polygamy is allowed in some countries,
as in Turkey. Turn to Webster's Dictionary, page 844, and we shall
find the word "polyandry," from polus, many and aner, man, meaning the
practice of females having more husbands than one at the same time, or
a plurality of husbands. Then there is another word--polygyny, from
the Greek polus, and gune, woman or female, the practice of having
more wives than one at the same time. The word, therefore, to be used,
is not polygamy, but polygyny, for polygamy signifies a man with more
wives than one, or a woman with more husbands than one; and it seems
to me that if a man can have more wives than one a woman has the same
right to have more husbands than one. Then the true word is polygyny,
and hereafter we will scout the word polygamy, and use the true word
polygyny.
This question involves or supposes two systems of marriage: What is
commonly called polygamy and what is known as monogamy. On the one
hand a man with more than one wife; and on the other, a man with only
one wife. You observe therefore that these are two systems essentially
and radically different and distinct, the one from the other, and
especially so in this controversy. The material question to be decided
is, which is the authorized system of marriage, polygamy, or a
plurality of wives, or monogamy, or what it termed the one-wife system?
Let us glance for a moment at some of the grand features of monogamy;
and we shall thereby see the distinction between the two systems of
marriage. Take, for instance, the design of marriage, as originally
established by the Almighty in the garden of Eden, in the time of man's
innocency. That design was three-fold: companionship, procreation and
prevention. Companionship is first: the soul is more than the body.
The union of two loving hearts is more than the union of two bodies.
Ere Eve was created or she beheld the rosy sky or breathed its balmy
atmosphere, God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will
make for him a helpmeet." The animals had passed in review before
Adam; but neither among the doves that plumed their pinions in the air
of Paradise; nor amid the fish of the deep, the beasts of the field,
nor the reptiles of the earth could a companion be found for man.
But a special exertion of divine power had to be put forth that this
companion should be made. And how was she made? A deep sleep is caused
to come upon the first man. There lies Adam upon the ambrosial floor of
Paradise, and out of his side a rib is taken, and out of that rib woman
was created. And when some one asked old Martin Luther--"Why did not
God Almighty make the woman out of some other bone of a man than out
of a rib?" The answer was: "He did not make woman out of man's head,
lest she should rule over him; He did not make her out of the bone of
man's foot, lest he should trample upon her; but He made her out of his
side, that she might be near his heart; from under his arm, that he
might protect her." The grand primary object of marriage, therefore, is
companionship--the union of two loving hearts.
The next design is procreation. It has pleased Almighty God to people
the earth by the offspring coming from those united in marriage. This
was his wisdom: this was his plan. It is an old saying that history
repeats itself; and after the flood had swept away the antediluvians,
and after that terrible storm had subsided, there, in the ark, was Noah
and his sons and their wives--four men and four women. If Almighty
God sanctioned polygamy in the beginning, and intended to sanction it
afterwards, why did not He save in the ark a dozen wives for Noah and
a dozen for each of his sons? But one wife for Noah, and one wife for
each of his sons; and thus the Almighty repeats history.
The next design is prevention--namely to prevent the indiscriminate
intercourse of the sexes. God loves chastity in man and in woman,
and therefore he established marriage, it is a divine institution,
lifting man above the brutes. He would not have man as the male of the
brute creation--mingling indiscriminately with the females; but he
establishes an institution holy as the angels--bearing upon its brow
the signet of His approval, and sanctioned by the good and great of all
ages. He establishes this institution that the lines may be drawn, and
that the chastity of male and female may be preserved.
On passing from this question of design, let us go to the consideration
of the very nature of marriage. It is two-fold. It is an institution,
not a law; it is a state, not an act; something that has been
originated, framed, built up and crowned with glory. It is not an act
of mere sexual intercourse, but it is a state to run parallel with the
life of the married pair, unless the bonds of marriage are sundered
by one crime--that is adultery. Then consider the grand fact that
there are solemn obligations in this institution of marriage. Nay,
more than this, the very essential elements of marriage distinguish it
in its monogamic, from the institution of marriage in its polygamic,
condition. There is choice, preference of one man for one woman, and
when we come to the question of the census that will demonstrate it
clear as the sunlight; when we come to that question we will prove the
equality of the sexes; we will prove that there is not an excess of
marriageable women either in this or any other country. Therefore the
grand advice of Paul: "Let every man have his own wife, and every woman
have her own husband."
Now, if the equality of the sexes be a fact, and every man is to
have his own wife, and every woman her own husband, then I say that
this great idea of choice is fully sustained, of preference on the
part of a man, and also preference on the part of woman. And around
this institution God has thrown guards to protect it; indeed, he has
surrounded it with muniments which seem to be as high as heaven; and
whenever the obligations, or so long as the obligations of marriage
are observed, then these defenses stand impregnable and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against marriage. First, there is its innocency:
the union of a man with his wife, is an act as pure as the devotion
of angels in heaven. Then comes the nobleness of marriage: the bed
undefined is honorable in all; but whoremongers and adulterers will God
judge. Then notice the sanction of divine and human law that surrounds
this institution; the law that was given amid the awful thunderings
of Mount Sinai is a grand muniment of this monogamic institution. In
all civilized Christian countries civil legislation has extended the
arm of the law to protect marriage. Then recall the affinities of the
sexes; the natural desire of man for woman; and the natural desire of
woman for man. There may be some exceptions. Now and then we find an
old bachelor in the world; but a man without a wife is only half a man.
Now and then we find a woman in the world who is styled an "old maid;"
but a woman without a husband is only half a humanity. Adam, in the
beginning, was a perfect humanity, possessing the strength, dignity and
courage of man, with the grace, gentleness and beauty of woman. After
Eve's creation he retained the strength, dignity and courage; but lost,
with Eve, the grace, beauty and gentleness; so that it now takes the
union of one man, with the sterner qualities, with one woman, with the
gentler graces, to produce one perfect humanity, and that is the type
of marriage, as instituted by Almighty God, and as is approved by His
divine law.
And, now, I desire to run the parallel between the two systems,
showing how the one is destructive of the other. Take, for instance,
the element, namely, the design, and see how polygamy strikes at the
institution of marriage in that regard. I now refer to companionship,
the union of two loving hearts to the exclusion of a third. A man may
love three or more friends; he may love three or more children; he may
love three or more brothers or sisters; but God has so ordained the law
of affinities between the man and the woman that companionship can only
be secured to the exclusion of a third person. Ah! what a pleasure it
is for a man when away from home to know, "I shall soon return to the
bosom of my wife, and my little children will climb upon my knee and
lisp the child's welcome at my return." And he hastens from afar to
the embraces of that wife. And then what an almost infinity of joy it
is on the part of the woman, whose husband is far away, to know that
he is coming. Says she, "I will stand in the door-way and will watch
his returning footsteps. He is coming to me, to my embrace, to my home
prepared for him!" And with what pride and care the busy housewife
arranges for his return! How neat and beautiful everything is! The
bouquet of flowers is on the table, the best viands are spread on the
board, and everything in the house is prepared with the utmost care!
But oh! what a gloom comes down upon the poor woman's soul when she
knows that he returns not to her, but returns to one, two, three, four,
twelve, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty.
Then see how the system works against the next design--namely,
procreation. It is a fact that in polygamous countries one sex or
the other has preponderance in numbers. Some good authorities say
the females preponderate, others say the males. I do not know, I do
not care a rush which preponderates: all that I say is this, that
good, reliable authorities say that in polygamic--mark you, polygamic
countries, there is a preponderance of one or the other; while in
monogamic nations the great law of equality is brought out. According
to some authorities the tendency of polygamy is to make all males;
according to other authorities to make all females; and if either
follow, then comes the destruction of the race, and within a hundred
years the earth is depopulated and is a howling wilderness.
Take the influence of polygamy upon what may be properly called the
rights of marriage, and these rights are two-fold:--authority on the
part of the man, and protection on the part of the woman. The man is
the head of the family; the man is the high priest of the family;
the man is the legislator and executive of the family. He is to have
reverence from his wife; she is to obey him; and I never performed the
marriage ceremony without including that word when I address the woman,
"Wilt thou obey the man?" That is God's authority, and every true and
loving wife will obey her husband in the Lord as readily as she obeys
the Lord Jesus Christ. But while man is the legislator and executive;
while he is endowed with authority as his right, so, on the other hand,
protection belongs to and is the natural and inalienable right of the
woman. See that ivy as it entwines around the oak! That grand old oak
has sent down its roots and takes hold of the very foundations of the
earth, and its branches tower up towards the sky. See that ivy how it
entwines itself gently, sweetly and beautifully around the oak?
"A thing of beauty is a Joy forever."
So woman entwines herself, the tendrils of her affection go out and
they entwine themselves around the man; and what must be the depth
of the depravity to which that man has fallen who ruthlessly tears
asunder these gentle tendrils of affection! What the ivy is to the
oak, the woman is to the man; and it is for man, in his pride and
glory, in his strength and energy, with his strong arm to protect
her; and it is woman's right to go to man for protection. But how is
it possible under the system of polygamy for these great rights to be
preserved? It is true that the man retains his right and authority;
this system augments and multiplies that authority. This system is
one of usurpation, extending a right over the larger number that is
not included in God's law. But, on the other hand, where is the right
of woman to protection? A whole soul for a whole soul! A whole body
for a whole body, and a whole life for a whole life! Just like the
shells of the bivalve; they correspond with each other! Just like the
two wings of a bird, male and female. So precisely this great idea of
reciprocity, mutual affection and reciprocal love is developed in this
idea of monogamous marriage. But polygamy, it seems to me, strikes down
this right of woman; in other words, it divides the protecting power
of man in proportion to the number of wives he possesses; and it seems
to me that in view of the distribution of worldly goods in this life a
man can support and protect but one family. Kings, who can tax a whole
people; kings, who can build palaces and rear pyramids; kings, who can
marshal their armies on the banks of the Rhine and go to war, may have
their harems--their plurality of wives; but the poor man, doomed to
toil, with the sweat of labor on his brow, how is it possible for him
to provide for more than one family? Yet if the king in his glory has
the right to have a plurality of wives, so also has the poor man, who
is doomed to toil, the same right; and God Almighty, in making this
law for a plurality of wives, if He has made it, which I, of course,
question, yet, if He has made it, then He has not made provision
for the execution of that law; or, in other words, He has not made
provision for its immunities to be enjoyed by the common people. It is
a law exclusively for nabobs, kings and high priests; for men in power,
for men possessing wealth, and not for me, a poor man, or for you,
[pointing to audience] a poor laborer. God Almighty is just, and a king
is no more before him than a peasant. The meanest of His creatures,
as well as the highest, are all alike unto Him. I ask you, therefore,
to-day, Would He enact a law sanctioning--commanding a plurality of
wives, without making a provision that every man should be in such
financial circumstances as to have a plurality of wives and enjoy them?
See, therefore, how these two systems of marriage are antagonistic one
against the other! And, after hearing this exposition of the nature and
the elements and the rights and the muniments of marriage, it is for
you to infer which is the system which God ordained in the beginning.
My distinguished friend has hastily reviewed many passages of
Scripture, all of which, my friends, I shall notice. I will sift
them to the bottom. My only regret is that my distinguished friend,
for whose scholarship I have regard, did not deliberately take up
one passage and exhaust that passage, instead of giving us here a
passage and there a passage, simply skimming them over without going
to the depths, and showing their philological relation and their
entire practical bearing upon us. When my friend shall give us such
an exegesis and analysis, whether he quotes Hebrew, Greek or Latin, I
will promise him that I will follow him through all the mazes of his
exposition and I will go down to the very bottom of his argument.
I feel bound, to-day, my friends, in my opening speech to give this
analysis of the question and to present to you my ideas of marriage in
contradistinction to the idea of marriage held here as polygamous.
Now I presume that I will pass to the consideration of a few of the
salient points which my distinguished friend threw out.
Let us see in relation to the text he quoted, "If brethren dwell
together," though he wanders back, and it was difficult for me to see
what relation the antediluvians, and what relation old Adam had to
this passage; but he referred to the antediluvians and to Adam, and he
also referred to Lamech. Who was Lamech? He is the first polygamist
on record, the first mentioned in the first two hundred years of the
history of the world. He had two wives; and what else did he have?
He had murder in his heart and blood on his hand, and I aver that
whoever analyzes the case of Lamech, will find that the murder which he
committed grew out of his plurality of wives; in other words, it grew
out of the polygamy which he attempted to introduce into the world.
Said he to his wives, "I have slain a man;" and the inference is that
this man had come to claim his rights.