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."