THE REVELATION ON POLYGAMY--BISHOP WHITNEY PRESERVES A COPY OF THE
ORIGINAL DOCUMENT--BELINDA M. PRATT'S FAMOUS LETTER.
It was nearly twenty-three years after the establishment of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that the revelation on celestial
marriage was published to the world. On the 6th of April, 1830, the
Church was founded on the 14th of September, 1852, the _Deseret News_
published an extra, containing the said revelation, the origin thus
dated: "Given to Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, July 12, 1843;" and in the
_Millennial Star_, January 1st, 1853, it was published to the saints of
the British mission.
No need here for a review of that document on plural marriage, nor
a sociological discussion of this now world-noised institution of
the Mormons; but as some persons have ascribed that institution to
President Young, and denied that Joseph Smith was its revelator, the
word of sisters who have been with the Church from the beginning shall
be offered as a finality upon the question of its origin.
Eliza R. Snow has already testified on the subject of her marriage to
the prophet Joseph, not by proxy, but personally, during his lifetime;
and all the Church know her as Joseph's wife. The daughters of Bishop
Partridge, and others, were also sealed to him in person, in the order
of celestial marriage.
A very proper one to speak here is Mother Whitney, for it was her
husband, Bishop Whitney, who preserved the revelation on polygamy.
Speaking of the time when her husband kept store for Joseph (1842-3),
she says: "It was during this time that Joseph received the revelation
concerning celestial marriage; also concerning the ordinances of the
house of the Lord. He had been strictly charged, by the angel who
committed these precious things into his keeping, that he should only
reveal them to such ones as were pure, and full of integrity to the
truth, and worthy and capable of being entrusted with divine messages;
that to spread them abroad would only be like casting pearls before
swine; and that the most profound secresy was to be maintained, until
the Lord saw fit to make it known publicly through his servants. Joseph
had the most implicit confidence in my husband's uprightness and
integrity of character, and so he confided to him the principles set
forth in that revelation, and also gave him the privilege of reading
and making a copy of it, believing it would be perfectly safe with
him. It is this same copy that was preserved in the providence of God;
for Emma (Joseph's wife), afterwards becoming indignant, burned the
original, thinking she had destroyed the only written document upon
the subject in existence. My husband revealed these things to me. We
had always been united, and had the utmost faith and confidence in
each other. We pondered upon the matter continually, and our prayers
were unceasing that the Lord would grant us some special manifestation
concerning this new and strange doctrine. The Lord was very merciful to
us, revealing unto us his power and glory. We were seemingly wrapt in a
heavenly vision; a halo of light encircled us, and we were convinced in
our own bosoms that God heard and approved our prayers and intercedings
before him. Our hearts were comforted, and our faith made so perfect
that we were willing to give our eldest daughter, then seventeen years
of age, to Joseph, in the order of plural marriage. Laying aside all
our traditions and former notions in regard to marriage, we gave her
with our mutual consent. She was the first woman given in plural
marriage with the consent of both parents. Of course these things had
to be kept an inviolate secret; and as some were false to their vows
and pledges of secresy, persecution arose, and caused grievous sorrow
to those who had obeyed, in all purity and sincerity, the requirements
of this celestial order of marriage. The Lord commanded his servants;
they themselves did not comprehend what the ultimate course of action
would be, but were waiting further developments from heaven. Meantime,
the ordinances of the house of the Lord were given, to bless and
strengthen us in our future endeavors to promulgate the principles
of divine light and intelligence; but coming in contact with all
preconceived notions and principles heretofore taught as the articles
of religious faith, it was not strange that many could not receive it.
Others doubted; and only a few remained firm and immovable."
On the publication of the revelation on polygamy, the theological
writers of the Church issued pamphlets, promulgating and defending the
"peculiar institution," as the Gentiles styled it. Orson Spencer issued
_Patriarchal Marriage_; Parley P. Pratt issued _Marriage and Morals in
Utah_; and Orson Pratt was sent to Washington to proclaim, at the seat
of government, the great social innovation. This was the origin of the
_Seer_, a periodical there issued by him. Among the various writings of
the times, upon the subject, was a tract entitled _Defence of Polygamy
by a Lady of Utah, in a Letter to her Sister in New Hampshire_. The
following are extracts from it, in which is strikingly made manifest
the fact that the sisterhood accepted polygamy upon the examples of the
Hebrew Bible, rather than upon any portion of the Book of Mormon:
"SALT LAKE CITY, January 12, 1854.
"DEAR SISTER:
"Your letter of October 2d was received yesterday. * * * It seems,
my dear sister, that we are no nearer together in our religious
views than formerly. Why is this? Are we not all bound to leave
this world, with all we possess therein, and reap the reward of our
doings here in a never-ending hereafter? If so, do we not desire
to be undeceived, and to know and to do the truth? Do we not all
wish in our hearts to be sincere with ourselves, and to be honest
and frank with each other? If so, you will bear with me patiently,
while I give a few of my reasons for embracing, and holding sacred,
that particular point in the doctrine of the Church of the Saints,
to which you, my dear sister, together with a large majority of
Christendom, so decidedly object--I mean a 'plurality of wives.'
"I have a Bible which I have been taught from my infancy to hold
sacred. In this Bible I read of a holy man named Abraham, who is
represented as the friend of God, a faithful man in all things,
a man who kept the commandments of God, and who is called in the
New Testament the 'father of the faithful.' I find this man had a
plurality of wives, some of whom were called concubines. I also
find his grandson, Jacob, possessed of four wives, twelve sons
and a daughter. These wives are spoken very highly of by the
sacred writers, as honorable and virtuous women. 'These,' say the
Scriptures, 'did build the house of Israel.' Jacob himself was also
a man of God, and the Lord blessed him and his house, and commanded
him to be fruitful and multiply. I find also that the twelve sons
of Jacob, by these four wives, became princes, heads of tribes,
patriarchs, whose names are had in everlasting remembrance to all
generations.
"Now God talked with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, frequently; and
his angels also visited and talked with them, and blessed them
and their wives and children. He also reproved the sins of some
of the sons of Jacob, for hating and selling their brother, and
for adultery. But in all his communications with them, he never
condemned their family organization; but on the contrary, always
approved of it, and blessed them in this respect. He even told
Abraham that he would make him the father of many nations, and
that in him and his seed all the nations and kindreds of the earth
should be blessed. In later years I find the plurality of wives
perpetuated, sanctioned, and provided for in the law of Moses.
"David, the psalmist, not only had a plurality of wives, but the
Lord spoke by he mouth of Nathan the prophet and told David that he
(the Lord) had given his master's wives into his bosom; but because
he had committed adultery with the wife of Uriah, and caused his
murder, he would take his wives and give them to a neighbor of his,
etc.
"Here, then, we have the word of the Lord, not only sanctioning
polygamy, but actually giving to King David the wives of his
master (Saul), and afterward taking the wives of David from him,
and giving them to another man. Here we have a sample of severe
reproof and punishment for adultery and murder, while polygamy is
authorized and approved by the word of God.
"But to come to the New Testament. I find Jesus Christ speaks very
highly of Abraham and his family. He says: 'Many shall come from
the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the
south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the
kingdom of God.' Again he said: 'If ye were Abraham's seed, ye
would do the works of Abraham.'
"Paul the apostle wrote to the saints of his day, and informed them
as follows: 'As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have
put on Christ; and if ye are Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed,
and heirs according to the promise.' He also sets forth Abraham and
Sarah as patterns of faith and good works, and as the father and
mother of faithful Christians, who should, by faith and good works,
aspire to be counted the sons of Abraham and daughters of Sarah.
"Now let us look at some of the works of Sarah, for which she is so
highly commended by the apostles, and by them held up as a pattern
for Christian ladies to imitate.
"'Now Sarah, Abram's wife, bare him no children; and she had an
handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said unto
Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing; I
pray thee go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children
by her. And Abram harkened unto the voice of Sarah. And Sarah,
Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram
had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her
husband, Abram, to be his wife.' (Gen. xvi.; 1, 2, 3).
"According to Jesus Christ and the apostles, then, the only way to
be saved, is to be adopted into the great family of polygamists, by
the gospel, and then strictly follow their examples. Again, John
the Revelator describes the holy city of the Heavenly Jerusalem,
with the names of the twelve sons of Jacob inscribed on the gates.
"To sum up the whole, then, I find that polygamists were the
friends of God; that the family and lineage of a polygamist
was selected, in which all nations should be blessed; that a
polygamist is named in the New Testament as the father of the
faithful Christians of after ages, and cited as a pattern for all
generations. That the wife of a polygamist, who encouraged her
husband in the practice of the same, and even urged him into it,
and officiated in giving him another wife, is named as an honorable
and virtuous woman, a pattern for Christian ladies, and the very
mother of all holy women in the Christian Church, whose aspiration
it should be to be called her daughters.
"That Jesus has declared that the great fathers of the polygamic
family stand at the head in the kingdom of God; in short, that all
the saved of after generations should be saved by becoming members
of a polygamic family; that all those who do not become members
of it, are strangers and aliens to the covenant of promise, the
commonwealth of Israel, and not heirs according to the promise made
to Abraham.
"That all people from the east, west, north and south, who enter
into the kingdom, enter into the society of polygamists, and under
their patriarchal rule and covenant.
"Indeed no one can approach the gates of heaven without beholding
the names of twelve polygamists (the sons of four different women
by one man), engraven in everlasting glory upon the pearly gates.
"My dear sister, with the Scriptures before me, I could never find
it in my heart to reject the heavenly vision which has restored
to man the fullness of the gospel, or the latter-day prophets
and apostles, merely because in this restoration is included the
ancient law of matrimony and of family organization and government,
preparatory to the restoration of all Israel.
* * * * * *
"Your affectionate sister,
"BELINDA MARDEN PRATT.
"Mrs. Lydia Kimball, Nashua, N. H."