| Show 21 MARRIAGE ARRIAG E AND MORALS IN UTAH AN ADDRESS WRITTEN BT BY elder ranlet P M rutt iett iett read HEAD IN JOINT SESSION BY bran MR BULLOCK CHIEF CLERK clerx OF the trin HOUSE I 1 TN deg REG 31 1853 1855 ASSEMBLY TENDERED THE AUTHOR THANKS BY A UNANIMOUS TOTE AND I 1 BT A liue LIKE VOTE ORDERED tite THE ADDRESS io TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE DESERET NEWS NEIM xeva MR PRESIDE PRESIDENT ir AND GEw geh GENTLEMEN lemei LEmmi at the opening of the present session of our annual L legislature I 1 had the honor of being unanimously chosen chaplain of the council I 1 I 1 ww was then and here hera I iid ild under a solemn oath to falth faith faithfully fully fally perform tilo the duties of this high and holy calling to the best bet of my abilities and was also iso solemnly charged by the honorable president mr kimball not merely to be fervent in prayer buring durin ilie the session but also aiso to contribute may ray mite mile in the moral and social institutions of our common cou country ilary in ili accor accordance dauee daure with these thise sacred responsibilities placed upon me 1 I 1 1 have with some pains prepared this ad address dresA which I 1 am extremely happy ia in having the privilege lege of laying before you not rn borrely bim Bir rely or principally for your sakes but for the sake of the leopla of oar r territory our nation and the world As A our young and ans rising Terri territory tory toTy ii is about preparing to enter upon her sovereignty as a free aud and independent republic and to assume her place amid the family of american states slates it bec becomes on les her citizen and especially those engaged ili in founding her institution to purify themselves and to come bogn together ther with pure hearts and clean hands and clothed with light us as with a garment lay a foundation arld and make or adopt sach bach laws lawa as will tend to purify arid and exalt the people eita establish bilah blish righteousness and peace and multiply and perpetuate perpetu ater a nation natron of freemen in the ilia highest degree of moral morat thiel intellectual and arid physical development no time bitne or mere tem teb temporary policy should enter into our composition compositions or influence us for one moment we act not merely or principally for ourselves ours oura elves elres or the living age but lorun torun lor untold millions milli ors of posterity stud end for forages yet unborn who doubt leg lej will be influenced by our owns and mould their morals manners precepts and even their consciences less after the pattern we set them A wholesome moral atmosphere and a conscience purified and arid enlighten en enlightened lighte 1 tied by tiie the spirit of truth are indispensably necessary to a perma percha ilent tient national growth and to top the strength and arid perpetuity perpetu ity ltv of institutions the A all ali 11 wise creator the god of nature has lins implanted in the human heart ertain certain affections which under tinder proper culture and direction give rne rhe to f ties lies hence clience tila the necessity and importance of the moral momi arid and social soc nl relations and ami the tile ili lil iid lid for their proper direction arld and government natures universia uni versil law arld and the just and great commande nt with blessing that each and every species apeci should multiply and arid fill the measure of its creation hence fiance the tiie growth of families the tile germs of nat nations lons ions and hence aa as we before observed ha the necessity of laws founded in wisdom to guard as it were the tow top fountain and issues of ilfe life in short moral and social affections arld and in are the tire very foundation of all government whether of family church or state if these are perverted or founded in tit error ohp whole superstructure ure uro is radically radical lv wrong arld and will contain within itself the seeds of its own decay and lid iid dissolution these facts fire are pot not only belf self evident but are according tu to all uli H it experience belne beins exemplified in the decadence e and arid dissolution of nations and arid empires of old as well as in fit the general weakness and corruption BO so characteristic of men and things in it more modern times the prophet isaiah isiiah in n looking through the vista of long distant years at leneth beholds the vision of modern cliris christendom or of the cor eruptions crowing out of roman sway avray lie ile exclaims c arms alms isa 24 5 the earth also aiso a so is denied defiled under the inhabitants thereof because thy th y have transgressed tit the tho laws changed the ordinance broken the everlasting cov covenant enaut I 1 1 1 we here enquire what laws were transgressed what ordinance was changed and arid whatever lasting was broken the tiie effect of or which would defile the very earth under its inhabitants threads us back in our rese researches arches niches to th the earliest institutions its ordinances covenants and precedents or record touching marriage and the tile moral and social relations if we find laws statutes statute sf covenants and pre cements em from god sworn to by himself to be everlasting as a ble bie blessing osing to all nations if we find these have to do with exceeding multiplicity ity of or the race hud mid with family and na ional lonal organization and iu increase lucrease crease if such institutions are older than titan moses arid and are round found perpetuated lund and unimpaired by moles and the tha prophets jesus aud and the apostles then it will III appear evident that they were intended to bo be perpetual and arid that no rio merely human legislation or author 1 ity whether proceeding from emperor eniver or king or people has a right to change cl iange lange alter miter or pervert them it will then remain to be shown by whom these institutions were changed or perverted the direful effect of such change upon the nations arid and the only course left for those who would survive the crash of nations and the wreck of worlds our objects object gent gentlemen lemini is to ure urge upon the statesmen and people of at least one state or government ern eru ment of our earth to avoid avold the cherock rock and arid quick sania sanda on which so many have made shipwreck to restore the laws the ordinance and arid the everlasting covenant of our vur god that her citizens may be purified arid and preserved by the same and arid her institutions being founded in ill truthy truth may be perpetuated for ever I 1 beseech therefore honorable gentlemen to hear me patiently abraham the friend of god lived in asi asil l upward of four li hundred undred yeorg rs before the ilia law of moses was written on tab tat tables les or oj stone or thundered from mount sina sinai I 1 to this man mail god gave laws commandments cocula noi nol ments statutes and judgments wan la an everlasting covenant he ile said unto him hia genesis mili mill versa verse 1 nd aud A and ud I 1 bif wit mke mie mag of thee a great nation arid and I 1 will bless thee and arid make thy nam name great t ilni tini am thou shall be a blessing and I 1 will bless biess t them tern that bless thee and aua curse him that burseth thee and in it thee shail shall nii nil the tiie families of the earth ix blessed and again aguin genesis 17 it chap verses to t 0 bill and ihen abram was ninety years yeara old arid and nine the lord appeared to abram and arid said unto milo him I 1 am the almighty god walk before me and be b thou perfect and I 1 will mak make my cove pant between m and and arid I 1 will vill multiply thee exceedingly and ab abam am fell on his face and god talked d w with ith him sayin saying as for me ile be hold my covenant is with thee arid and thou be a father of many nations neither shall chall thy name any auy more be called balled abram but ahr narie nasie na ne shall rhall le ile abraham for a father fattier of many nations haye have I 1 made thee and I 1 will make thee exceeding fruitful fruit fo and I 1 will make natoni nati oni of thee and kins kings shail come dome out of thee rit sit and d I 1 will establish my covenant between me and thee t it ee aria and th thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a god unto nto th thee ea and to thy seed after thee and arid I 1 will give unto til thee e and to thy seed after thee the tha land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of canaan for an everlasting everl everi asil asting asling i ng possession and I 1 will be their god in the foregoing promises it is evident that there is an nil everlasting covenant touching multiplicity of f our species government making or the rai ral ing tip up of or families and arid nations arld and their heir exceeding prosperity and increase a cov nant dant everlasting and unchangeable id in which all alt nations should be blessed if they were ever blessed at ut an ati in connection with this covenant wo we hare have reason ta to belt beit eve ere that god would reveal I 1 laws a ws statutes statute irid aud institutions which would wadid be b prodie tire hire of file the greated grea tet poa possible sible increase of tp wise Is healthy and virtuous posterity I 1 I 1 1 I u n I 1 in III aly the Prece precedents denn denk recorded i posterity two principles ur arb are conspicuous as bing boing snip sulp subservient servient to thel carrying tout rout of these theses ends viz firta firsta firt first A plurality of wives sec see secondly audly alv ati alt entire entine prohibit hn of all alt sexual intercourse except upon tila ilia principle of marriage ariage a breach of which haq wa consid emd end id a of of nence fence pir pit with benth deith de ith god provided abraham with Sarti sarab sarah lf hagar keturah mid und sev tev erni other wivel not named by this means lie he became then HIM father rather of many nations natios and ill ili hij seed wai wax multiplied exceedingly god also gave to jacobf jacob Abra abrahams liams grandson tour four wives viz leah loan rachel Ra cliel Bil liall and zilpha Zil plia pila by which means lie he bec une itne the father of twelve tribes tue lii ili story of these things is so conspicuous in the book of genesis thauly e need not quote chapter and arid verse now after Abra ahra abraham hant hani had obtained hii nil these wives arld and had llad raised up children by the tire lord bears testimony in the chapter of gen esis verse othi ath saving Abraham obeyed my voice arld and kept rny lyt alyf charge cl arge my commandments my my statutes and arid mv my laws here then we live have demonstration that a man living four hundred years before the tiie law of moses was given had statutes command commandments mants manti and laws lawn given him of god god goi and that he kept them these laws evidently included polygamy or plurality of wives aroa the fact that he lie had ill III them a n as a means of carrying out tile the promise of e exceeding multiplicity here then their the tiie matten matter la is fet pet forever for fon ever at rest that polygamy is included in tit the ordinance of marriage marr lige and in fit the everlasting covenant and laws of god and that under proper regulations it isan is an institution just virtuous pure and ili in the estimation of god abundantly calculated to 10 bless preserve and multiply a nation I 1 i hence the laws lassof of some tome of our states which recognize polygamy us as a crime are alonce both unscriptural and unconstitutional as well as asim im moral common law in england and la in the united states recognizes it lle ile lie a bible as the very foundation sion tion of pill all moral and ani an criminal jurisprudence and the constitution of the united states slates and of each state guarantees the liberty of at least au an enlightened conscience founded on the moral law of god as found iu in that holy book hence should an individual ll or a community in allgood faith regulate their marriages by the laws of god as given to abraham ab aham abam no state law can cin can harra them while lle ile the lie civil courtn courts are bound to abide that holy and anu ana sacred guarantee of the constitution viz liberty of conscience i 1 having demonstrated the fact of afan an everlasting covenant made with abraham and arid his ilia seed in eluding plural marri marriage agge arld and certain Jaws designed to multiply and bless many nations and abol to be it blessing to all alt he file families of the earth wa we will now not the penal laws touching morality jayor or the intercourse of or the tiie sexes the first intimation we wo will notice on this sub eject is found hi ili genesis goth chapter as ns follows and abraham journeyed from thence towards the south country and arid dwelt between kadesh and arid shur tind and sojourned sojourn ed in gerar and abraham said of sarah ha wife she site is my fi sister ister and arid avimelech Abi abl melech king of gerar se renand nand took sarah but god came to avimelech Abi melech ina lna dream by night nigh and said to linn jinn I behold thou lirt fart but mail mari for the woman which thou hast taken for sh she a is a mahs wife bat sat had not come near her and he besard sard said lord wilt thou slay also a righteous nation said ile ha not unto mei me she is in my Y sister aud and she even she site herself said sail he be is my brother in the integrity ofay of my heart and arid the tile of my hands have I 1 done this n and arid god said sald unto himin him in adream yea lenow that thou this in tiia ilia integrity of thy heart beart 0 for o r I 1 also withheld thee from sinning against me cheref suffered I 1 thee not to touch lier her now therefore ei restore the man matt his wife for heis a prophet a and iid lid lie shall pray for thee arld and thou I 1 vp ve but if thou restore her not know thou tilou that thou shail shall surely die thou abdali abdail thine fiere hera we v have tile tha law of god revealed hy by bi his hig about four hundred bundred years becore before the law of moses mosea was givah making death the tiie penalty of or adultery this law then was part and parcel of tile the laws laws lawr statutes arld and coye co pants Tenants under which abraham and arid his neighbors lived arld and it seems to have been beer an tin general lav fair handed down by tle tho fathers to which Abi abl melcH was no stranger ao did not plead his igo ignorance drance of tha law taw but buethe tile tiie innocenc c y or of his intentions and his norance loranca gnor gnoy nor ance anca orthe of lliel true circumstances again Gene genesis sis sli chapter 34 records a case ewe bf fornication committed by bv shechem the them son of naman raman the civito prinice princes of the co country mitry with dinah the daughter of jacob the grandson of df abrahami abraham abra Ahra hami and how punished lied I 1 TWO of the sons of jacob viz vir simeon and levi took tools nud pud siew slew this fornicator and arid all alt titer lip men abou about thim him who llad been accessory to tila the seduction of their sister sifter or who had consented thereto and they took their goods for fora a spoil i may in this caso case ca case ae have ilava superseded the bounds of the law but still it goes coshow with what ab abhorrence horrance these sons of or a chaste ehaste and arid plural marriage marriaga held the crime of fornication we will now enquire the law ofA ora loses or the iz gospel ever ch cinyd tuti in ol the covant babra ham hum or dis annulled tie tle atif lay of ma marriage or tho the penally of 0 death affixed to adultery and fornica tion lion for this nip mip we shai trace the subject down bown through ift rent aes ages and dispensation bringing mugging a few instances out of many illustrative of the lire subject put but first of all wn wa will wil wll take taka the direct testimony of tile the Apoi tl panl paul found in galatians Galati aris aos 3rd ard 3 d chiater cli cil apter and irh lah and ielli verses inclusive e |
