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ME: The last subject I want to talk with all of you about
is marriage. The modern church teaches that a man and woman can be sealed for
time and eternity, and if faithful, can be exalted as a couple, or in other
words, become Gods. But at one point in our history, polygamy was a practice
faithfully adhered to by many, and was seen as a necessary step toward eternal
perfection. I would really like some clarification on this, as it is a cause of
much confusion and discomfort for many in the church today. President Hinckley,
modern scholars have looked at the historical record and have come to understand
that polygamy was practiced much more widely than once thought. Do you agree? GBH: It was a very limited practice; carefully safeguarded.
In 1890, that practice was discontinued… I condemn (polygamy), yes, as a
practice, because I think it is not doctrinal. It is not legal. And this church
takes the position that we will abide by the law.[124] ME: Elder
McConkie, by all accounts, early latter-day
saints believed polygamy to be vital to their eternal progression. Were they
correct? BRM: Plural marriage is not essential to salvation or exaltation.[125] ME: President Young, is Elder McConkie correct? BY: The only men who
become Gods, even the Sons of God, are
those who enter into polygamy.[126] ME: Did you teach this doctrine to the early Saints? What
did you tell them?
ME: Damned? What exactly do you mean? BY: Now, where a man in this church says, ‘I don’t want
but one wife, I will live my religion with one.’ He will perhaps be saved in
the Celestial Kingdom; but when he gets there he will not find himself in
possession of any wife at all.... and he will remain single forever and ever.[128] ME: Why? What will happen to his wife? BY: (She) will not be his but (will be) taken from him
& given to another.[129] ME: Elder Pratt, is the practice of polygamy necessary for
salvation? OP: God has told us Latter-day Saints that we shall be
condemned if we do not enter into that principle; and yet I have
heard now and then... a brother or sister say, 'I am a Latter-day Saint, but I
do not believe in polygamy! Oh, what an
absurd expression! What an absurd idea! A person might as well
say, 'I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I do not believe in him.'…
The Lord has said that those who reject this principle reject
their salvation, they shall be damned, saith the Lord... [130]
GQC: (If I) had not obeyed that command of God, concerning
plural marriage, I believe that I would have been damned.[131] ME: O.K. I understand that polygamy was important at the
time you practiced it, but that was then, and now eternal marriage is between
one man and one woman. Could it be that it was expedient then, but that the Lord
now requires a different law for the modern church? OP: …if
plurality of marriage is not true or in other words, if a man has no
divine right to marry two wives or more in this world, then marriage for eternity is not true, and your faith is all
vain, and all the sealing ordinances and powers, pertaining to marriages for
eternity are vain, worthless, good for nothing; for as sure as one is true the
other also must be true.[132]
WW: If we were to do away with
polygamy, it would only be one feather in the bird... Do away with that, then we
must do away with prophets and Apostles, with revelation and the gifts and
graces of the Gospel... and finally give up our religion altogether.... We just
can’t do that....[133] HCK: You might as well deny ‘Mormonism,’ and turn away
from it, as to oppose the plurality of wives…[134] The
principle of plurality of wives never will be done away...[135] ME: Never? HCK: It would be as easy for the United States to build a
tower to remove the sun, as to remove polygamy, or the Church and Kingdom of
God.[136] ME: So the federal government has no power to eradicate
polygamy? Elder Pratt, how do you view those that, like the government, frown on
the practice of polygamy?
ME: Are you suggesting that American society in general,
which is built on monogamous marriage, is characterized by the things you just
mentioned… whoremongers, liars, etc. OP: This law of monogamy, or the monogamic system, laid the
foundation for prostitution and the evils and diseases of the most revolting
nature and character under which modern Christendom groans...[138] ME: Wait… are you… I’m uncertain about what you’re
suggesting. Are you saying that monogamy is not merely a lesser law, it’s
actually evil? An abomination? President Young, please explain. BY: Since the founding of the Roman empire monogamy has
prevailed more extensively than in times previous to that. The founders of that
ancient empire were robbers and women stealers, and made laws favoring monogamy
in consequence of the scarcity of women among them, and hence this monogamic
system which now prevails throughout Christendom, and which had been so fruitful
a source of prostitution and whoredom throughout all the Christian monogamic
cities of the Old and New World, until rottenness and decay are at the root of
their institutions both national and religious.[139] ME: President Taylor? JT: ...the one-wife system not only degenerates the human
family, both physically and intellectually, but it is entirely incompatible with
philosophical notions of immortality; it is a lure to temptation, and has always
proved a curse to a people.[140] ME: Even the people in the modern LDS Church? Sorry, just a
rhetorical question. President Taylor, I want to focus on one thing you just
said. You said that monogamy degenerates people physically? In what way is that
possible? Anyone is welcome to answer…
GAS: We breathe the free air, we have the best looking men
and handsomest women, and if they envy our position, well they may, for they are
a poor, narrow minded, pinch-backed race of man, who chain themselves down to
the law of monogamy and live all their days under the dominion of one wife. They
aught to be ashamed of such conduct, and the still fouler channel which flows
from their practices. [142] ME: President Young, has polygamy actually helped your
health? Has it made you “young and sprightly” as Elder Kimball mentioned? BY: “Do you think that I am an old man? I could
prove…that I am young; for I could find more girls who would choose me for a
husband than can carry any of the young men.[143] ME: So it’s better for all of you, but what about your
families. Does polygamy have any bearing on the health of your children? BY: Talk about polygamy! There is no true philosopher on
the face of the earth but what will admit that such a system, properly carried
out according to the order of heaven, is far superior to monogamy for the
raising of healthy, robust children![144] ME: So polygamous children are actually healthier,
physically, than other children? GQC: …besides being equally as bright and brighter
intellectually, (they) are much more healthy and strong.[145] ME: I see… If polygamy is ordained of God as a holy
practice, why was it never addressed by Jesus? He certainly spoke of marriage in
general, but he said nothing of polygamous marriage. We don’t even have
definitive proof from the Bible that he was married, himself. You wouldn’t go
so far as to suggest that Jesus was also a polygamist, would you? BY: Yes, (polygamy is) one of the relics of Adam, of Enoch, of Noah, of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Moses, David, Solomon, the Prophets, of Jesus, and his apostles…[146] The Scripture says that He, the Lord, came walking in the Temple, with His train; I do not know who they were, unless His wives and children; but at any rate they filled the Temple, and how many there were who could not get into the Temple I cannot say. This is the account given by Isaiah, whether he told the truth or not I leave every body to judge for himself.[147] ME: Elder Grant, was Jesus a polygamist? JMG: The grand reason of the burst of public sentiment in
anathemas upon Christ and his disciples, causing his crucifixion, was evidently
based upon polygamy, according to the testimony of the philosophers who rose in
that age. A belief in the doctrine of a plurality of wives caused the
persecution of Jesus and his followers. We might almost think they were
‘Mormons.’ [148]
OP: We have clearly show that God the Father had a
plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity, by whom He begat our spirits
as well as the spirit of Jesus His First Born, and another being upon the earth
by whom He begat the tabernacle of Jesus, as his only begotten in this world. We
have also proved most clearly that the Son followed the example of his Father,
and became the great Bridegroom to whom Kings’ daughters and many honorable
wives were to be married. We have also proved that both God the Father and our
Lord Jesus Christ inherit their wives in eternity as well as in time...
[149] ME: President Young, I want to ask you now about the
emotional impacts of polygamy on the women of the church. What are your
observations? What have you heard? BY: A few years ago one of my wives, when talking about
wives leaving their husbands said, ‘I wish my husband’s wives would leave
him, every soul of them except myself.’ That is the way they all feel, more or
less, at times, both old and young.
[150] ME: And what has been your counsel to women that feel this
way? BY: Sisters, do you wish to make yourselves happy? Then
what is your duty? It is for you to bear children... are you tormenting
yourselves by thinking that your husbands do not love you? I would not care
whether they loved a particle or not; but I would cry out, like one of old, in
the joy of my heart, ‘I have got a man from the Lord! Hallelujah! I am a
mother’... [151] ME: But what about those who want more from their
relationship with their husband? What will become of those women that feel they
can no longer bear the loneliness and choose to abandon the practice of
polygamy?
ME: I take it, then, that a righteous man looses nothing by
loosing a good wife that won’t follow the program. She will simply be replaced
in the eternities. Would it be unreasonable to suggest that this thought
slightly devalues women – considering all they’ve been asked to bear for the
cause of truth? HCK: It is the duty of a woman to be obedient to her husband, and unless she is, I would not give a damn for all her queenly right and authority, nor for her either, if she will quarrel and lie about the work of God and the principles of plurality.[153] ME: President Young, I have read that you once addressed
the women of the church from the pulpit regarding their attitudes about
polygamy. Can share with us some of what you said on that occasion? BY: …it is frequently happening that women say they are
unhappy. Men will say, ‘My wife, though a most excellent woman, has not seen a
happy day since I took my second wife; No, not a happy day for a year,’ says
one; and another has not seen a happy day for five years. It is said that
women are tied down and abused: that they are misused and have not he liberty
they ought to have; that many of them are wading through a perfect flood of
tears, because of the conduct of some men together with their own folly… I
wish my own women to understand that what I am going to say is for them as well
as others, and I want those who are here to tell their sisters, yes, all the
women of this community, and then write it back to the States, and do as you
please with it.[154] ME: And then you gave them an ultimatum, is that right?
What was it? BY: I am going to give you from this time to the 6th day of
October next, for reflection, that you may determine whether you wish to stay
with your husbands or not, and then I am going to set every woman at liberty and
say to them, Now go your way, my women with the rest, go your way. And my wives
have got to do one of two things; either round up their shoulders to endure the
afflictions of this world, and live their religion, or they may leave, for I
will not have them about me. I will go into heaven alone, rather than have
scratching and fighting around me. I will set all at liberty. ‘What, first
wife too?’ Yes, I will liberate you all... I wish my women, and brother
Kimball’s and brother Grant’s to leave, and every woman in this Territory,
or else say in their hearts that they will embrace the Gospel – the whole of
it....[155] ME: What did you tell the brethren that were present? BY: …say to your wives, ‘Take all that I have and be
set at liberty; but if you stay with me you shall comply with the law of God,
and that too without any murmuring and whining. You must fulfill the law of God
in every respect, and round up your shoulders to walk up to the mark without any
grunting.’ ME: There was more wasn’t there? Please finish…
ME: That was quite a speech… I don’t believe I’ve
ever heard such a talk from the pulpit before! I do have a couple more
questions. I want to ask you about divorce. If eternal marriage in the early
church was above the law, so to speak, then was legal divorce even necessary?
Was the dissolution of marriage frowned on? If so, when was it justified? BY: Can a woman be freed from a man to whom she is sealed?
Yes, but a bill of divorcement does not free her.... How can a woman be made
free from a man to whom she has been sealed for time and all eternity? There are
two ways....First if a man forfeits his covenants with a wife, or wives,
becoming unfaithful to his God, and his priesthood, that wife or wives are free
from him without a bill of divorcement…The second way in which
a wife can be separated from her husband, while he continues to be faithful to
his God and his priesthood, I have not revealed, except to a few persons in this
Church, and a few have received it from Joseph the prophet as well as myself. If
a woman can find a man holding the keys of the priesthood with
higher power and authority than her husband, and he is disposed to take her he
can do so, otherwise she has got to remain where she is.[157] ME: Wait… I’m sorry… are you saying that it’s perfectly acceptable for a woman to leave her husband for a man holding a higher office in the priesthood? BY:
...If a woman claims protection at the hands of a man,
possessing more power in the priesthood
and higher keys, if he is disposed to rescue her and has
obtained the consent of her husband to make her his wife he can do so without a bill of divorcement.[158] ME: Now, you just said, at least I think you did, that
Joseph Smith taught this. If he did, did he also practice it? Did he take other
men’s wives as his own? Elder Grant, it appears that you would like to
respond. Please…
ME: A wife, then, is like any other possession? JMG: What would a man of God say, who felt aright, when
Joseph asked him for his money? He would say, ‘Yes, and I wish I had more to
help to build up the Kingdom of God.’ Or if he came and said ‘I want your
wife?’ ‘O Yes,’ he would say, ‘here she is, there are plenty more.’[160] ME: Let me ask you point blank, then. Did Joseph actually
desire other men’s wives for himself? This idea is certainly alarming to the
modern Latter-Day Saint that believes in an insular, eternal family unit? Give
me the truth of the matter as you understand it. JMG: Did the Prophet Joseph want every man’s wife he
asked for? He did not...[161] ME: That’s probably answer enough… Just one more question. President Young… President Young?
[124] Gordon B. Hinckley, on Larry King Live, September 8, 1998, online at http://www.lds-mormon.com/lkl_00.shtml. [125] Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 523. [126] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, pg. 269. [127] Brigham Young, Deseret News, November 14, 1855. [128] Brigham Young, Deseret News, September 17, 1873. [129] Brigham Young, quoted by Wilford Woodruff, in Abanes, One Nation Under Gods, p. 579. [130] Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, vol. 17, p. 224-225. [131] George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses, v. 23, p. 278. [132] Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, vol. 21, p.296. [133] Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, v. 13, p. 166. [134] Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, v. 5, p. 203. [135] Heber C. Kimball, Deseret News, November 7, 1855. [136] Heber C. Kimball, Millennial Star, v. 28, p. 190. [137] Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, vol. 17, p. 229. [138] Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, vol. 13, p. 195. [139] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, p. 128. [140] John Taylor, Millennial Star, Vol. 15, p. 227. [141] Heber C. Kimball, Deseret News, April 22, 1857. [142] George A. Smith, Apostle, Deseret News, April 16, 1856. [143] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 5, p. 210. [144] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 13, p. 317. [145] George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses, v. 13, p. 207. [146] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 11, p. 328. [147] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 13, p. 309. [148] Jedediah M. Grant, Journal of Discourses, v. 1, p. 346. [149] Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 172. [150] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 9, p. 195. [151] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 9, p. 37. [152] Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, v. 4, p. 209. [153] Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, v. 4, p. 82. [154] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, pp. 55-57. [155] Ibid. [156] Ibid. [157] “A few words of Doctrine,” a speech given by President Brigham Young in the Tabernacle on Oct. 8, 1861; photocopy of a document in the Mormon Church Historical Department, Brigham Young Addresses, Ms/d/1243/Bx 49/fd 8. [158] Ibid. [159] Jedediah M. Grant, Journal of Discourses, v. 2, pp. 13-14. [160] Ibid. [161] Ibid.
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BY: Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives and
continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned; and I will go still
further, and say that this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord had
given, and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned.
ME: Elder Cannon, is this also your understanding? 
ME: President Woodruff? 
OP:
Says this Christian, ‘I really do not like this; I
see this is a polygamous city. I wonder if there is not some other place for me!
I do not like the company of polygamists. They were hated very badly back
yonder. Congress hated them, the President hated them, the cabinet hated them,
the Priests hated them, and everybody hated them, and I engendered the same
hatred, and I have not got rid of it yet. I wonder if there is not some other
place for me?' Oh yes, there is another place for you. Without the gates of the
city there are dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, adulterers and whosoever loveth
and maketh a lie. Now take your choice…
HCK: I have noticed that a man who has but one wife, and is
inclined to that doctrine, soon begins to wither and dry up, while a man who
goes into plurality looks fresh, young, and sprightly. Why is this? Because God
loves that man, and because he honors his word. Some of you may not believe
this, but I not only believe it but I also know it. For a man of God to be
confined to one woman is small business... I do not know what we should do if we
had only one wife apiece.
ME: Elder Pratt? 
HCK: In the spirit... world we will go to brother
Joseph.... He will say to us, ‘Come along my boys, we will give you a good
suit of clothes. Where are your wives?’ ‘They are back yonder; they would
not follow us.’ ‘Never mind,’ says Joseph, ‘here are thousands, have all
you want.’ 
BY: Now recollect that two weeks from tomorrow I am going
to set you at liberty. But the first wife will say, ‘It is hard, for I have
lived with my husband twenty years, or thirty, and have raised a family of
children for him, and it is a great trial to me for him to have more women;’
then I say it is time that you gave him up to other women who will bear
children. If my wife had borne me all the children that she ever would bare, the
celestial law would teach me to take young women that would have children...
Sisters, I am not joking, I do not throw out my proposition to banter your
feelings, to see whether you will leave your husbands, all or any of you. But I
do know that there is no cessation to the everlasting whining of many of the
women in this Territory; I am satisfied that this is the case. And if the women
will turn from the commandments of God and continue to despise the order of
heaven, I will pray that the curse of the Almighty may be close to their heels,
and that it may be following them all day long... Prepare yourselves for two
weeks from tomorrow; and I will tell you now, that if you will tarry with your
husbands, after I have set you free, you must bow down to it, and submit
yourselves to the celestial law. You may go where you please, after two weeks
from tomorrow; but, remember, that I will not hear any more of this whining.
JMG: If such a man of God should come to me and say, ‘I
want your gold and silver, or your wives,’ I should say, ‘Here they are, I
wish I had more to give you, take all I have got.