SARAH THE MOTHER OF THE COVENANT—IN HER THE EXPOUNDING OF THE POLYGAMIC RELATIONS OF THE MORMON WOMEN—FULFILMENT OF GOD'S PROMISE TO HER—THE MORMON PARALLEL—SARAH AND HAGAR DIVIDE THE RELIGIOUS DOMINATION OF THE WORLD.

Meet we now Sarah the mother of the covenant. In her is incarnated the very soul of patriarchal marriage. In her is the expounding of the patriarchal relations of her Mormon daughters. Sarah, who gave to her husband another wife, that the covenant which the Lord made with him might be fulfilled.

O woman, who shall measure thy love? And thus to give thyself a sacrifice for thy love! Thus on the altar ever!

It is thy soul-type in nature that makes nature beneficent. Had not nature the soul of woman she had been infinitely selfish; an infinite love had not been born; there had been no Christ; no sacrifice of self, that blessing and joy might come into the world.

The story of Sarah is the more touchingly beautiful when we remember that it has its cross. It would be a grievous wrong to Sarah's memory should we forget the sacrifice that her act necessitated, or underestimate that sacrifice. And let us not forget that it was not Abraham who bore that cross, great and good though he was.

The sacrifice in the initial of the covenant is a psalm to woman.

Keeping in mind the episode of Sarah and Hagar, let us continue the Abrahamic story:

"And God said unto Abraham, as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

"And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

* * * * * *

"And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.

"For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him."

The divine story was once familiar; it is now almost forgotten. But it is the living word of God to the Mormon people.

Reincarnate in modern times the soul of this vast Abrahamic iliad. Breathe the breath of its genius into a young civilization. A civilization born not in the East, where once was the cradle of empires—where now are their crumbling tombs. A young civilization, born in the revirgined West—the West, where new empires are springing up on the very dust of empires which had expired when Egypt was but a maiden—ere Babylon was a mother—ere Rome was born.

Re-utter the word and will of that God who spake to the Hebrew sire on the plains of Mamre; utter it now in the birth and growth of a young Israel in the land of America. Comprehend him in his birth and in his growth. Consider his genius and his covenant.

In Abraham of old is the expounding and understanding of the renewed covenant with the latter-day Israel; and in Sarah of old is the expounding and understanding of patriarchal marriage among her Mormon daughters.

The Mormon woman is Sarah in the covenant, as she is Eve in the creation and fall. She has appropriated the text of the covenant. She claims her mother Sarah's rights. She invokes her mother Sarah's destiny: "She shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her."

Thus in the mind of the Mormon woman is patriarchal marriage established by her God. Be it confessed that woman was a listener to the Abrahamic promise in the days of Sarah; was she not also a listener in the days of Joseph the prophet? Could the heavens thus speak and woman fail to hear? Could such promises be made and motherhood fail to leap for joy?

If she dared to bear the patriarchal cross, was it not because she saw brightly looming in her destiny the patriarchal crown? In this life only the cross—in all the lives to come a crown of glory!

The Mormon woman knows nothing of "polygamy" as conceived by the Gentiles. She is constantly declaring this. There is no "many-wife system" in Mormondom. It is patriarchal marriage. There is the destiny of a race in the Mormon woman's vision. For this came she into the world. In her is motherhood supremely exalted, and woman is redeemed from bondage to her husband.

Glance at the story of Sarah again. Mark its stupendous import to motherhood. Witness the introduction of polygamy into the Abrahamic family. And, if the wondrous sequel has any meaning, Isaac was the Lord's answering gift to Sarah's act, to fulfil the covenant.

And while remembering the sacrifice of Sarah and Hagar let us also remember the compensation. Those two mothers are without parallel in all history. Races and empires came of them. Sarah and Hagar, in their sons Isaac and Ishmael, have divided the world.

From Isaac's line was given to the world the Christ; from Ishmael came Mohammed, the prophet of hundreds of millions.

Weigh those two mothers, with their sons, their races, and their civilizations. What a weight of empire! What were Egypt and Babylon, compared with Sarah and Hagar?

The Abrahamic subject is the most stupendous of all history. That subject has been reincarnated in Mormonism. Its genius and covenants are with the Mormon people; the age is witnessing the results.

Patriarchal marriage is one of those results. Sarah is a live character of our times. She will fulfil her destiny.

From the courts above the Mormon woman shall look down upon an endless posterity. In the heavens and in the earth shall her generations be multiplied.

This is the faith of each Mormon Sarah—each mother of the covenant. This only is her polygamy.