Show wo I 1 asp s C OUR p rz S i E i 1 i itil tiki iiii 1 iii ili aiji 04 by elder eldar cr OR SO OX lulf T I 1 i t y ra nicie salt sau lake city oct oat aa 1863 BY DAVID IV EVA it was announced at ati the ibe loga of the forenoon te meeting that I 1 would address the congregation gre gation this thia afternoon upon the subject ut of celestial r marriage I 1 do so with the greatest p leasure loasure in the arst place let us inquire whether it is lawful and right according to the constitution ution of our country to examine aud and practice this bli bil bibie bible le doctrine our oar fathers who framed the constitution of our country devised it so so as to g give i ve fre freedom fredora eora of religious of the almighty god so that all people under our government dhave the inalienable tight right a right by virtue of the constitution to believe in any bible principle which the the almighty has revealed in any age of the world to the human family 11 1 I do not think however that our oar forefathers tn in framing that instrument intended to embrace all the religions of the world I 1 mean the idolatrous and pagan religions 0 thy they say nothing noth larg about those reli rell religions ons in the constitution but they give t the h 0 express privilege in that instrument strument ment to all people dwelling tinder ander this twi government and under the tho institutions of our country to believe in all things which the almighty has revealed to the tho hungat huni huna humal at family there bisno non not amita tion i BO so far as bible religion is concerned concer nod nad or any principal or form of reli rell gicia boiley ed to have emanated from the A ity aty yet they would not admit idolatrous do DA nai lions to come he reland practice their rei re rel i ligion because it is not included in tha tho billeit Bib leitis leit is not tae taw religion of the Almighty i those people worship idols the work of their own hands thet they have instituted riita i and ceremonies pertaining to those idols to the observance of which thay no doubt suppose they are axe worA wor shipping LAppin g correctly and yet some of them are eley iiii of the trio most le velling wad sad barbarous character such lor for instance as the offering up of a widow on tin a funeral pile aa as a burnt sacrifice in order to follow her husband into the eternal worlds that is no part of the tell well religion on mentioned in the constitution of our enn edn country it is no part ot the roil roll religion rollion ion lon of almighty god but confining ourselves within th challin allin its ita of the constitution and coming coining back to ta thel the religion of the bible we haye have the lege to believe in the patriarchal ia in the ehg mosaic or in the christian order ot of things for the god of the patriarchs and the bod of moses Is also the Christ christians ians lAns god it Is true that many laws were given uni un i der the patriarchal or mosaic dupen against certain crimes the penalties for violating which religious bodies bodie tinder sUnder our out constitution have not the rigby to inflict the government has reserve eis Lip in its own hands the power so far faras farag as i affixing the penalties of certain crimes is concerned in ancient times there was a law strict strictly lin i enforcing the observance of the sabbath Sabbato day and the manor woman who violated that law was subjected to the punishment of death ecclesiastical bodies have the right ritt under our government and constitution twite to observe tha sabbath day or to disregard it but they have hot the tile right to inflict corporeal punishment its non ob servance the subject proposed to be investigated this afternoon is that of celestial barridge Mar ridge as believed in by the latter day SaInt sand saud which they claim is strictly a bible doci doe 1 trine and part of the revealed religion of the almighty it itis is well weli known by all the latter day saints that wil we have not derived all our knowledge concerning god heaven i angels this life and the lite to come entirely from the books of thel they bible yet we believe that all of our religious principles I 1 and notions are in accord luco tuco and are sustained by ther the bibie bible though we believe in new revelation and ad believe that god has revealed many any ADY things pertaining to our religion W we atso also belleve believe that he has revealed noue thal that u are aro incon i sistena with the worship worships ot of a sacred right guaranteed la sll all religious denominations by the co astl asti oth country god created man malland male maie and female nel lie is the antho Autho author rot of our exis existence tenee tence Ile ite placed us on ion this creat ioUi he ile ordained laws to govern us he gave to man whom he created a helpmeet a be one wita him borbe ajo yanda comfort to ta him andallo for another very great andrise and wise pur purpose e name namely y that the human species might night be propagated on this creation that the earth might teem with population according to the decree of or god before tho tha foundation of the world that the intelligent spirits whom he had formed and created before this world iv was tolled into existence might have their probation might have an existence in flesh tiesh fleshy bodies anthis on this planet and be governed by laws emanating from their great creator in the breast of male and female ile he established certain qualities and attributes that never dever will be bradica eradicated namely love towards each other giove ove oye comes from irom god the love which man possesses for the opposite sex came from goa god the theace same ame god who created the two sexes implanted in the hearts or df each love iove ove ovo towards the other I 1 what was the object of placing this passion or the hearts of male and female it was in order orden to carry out so mar far as this world was concerned His I 1 great and eternal purposes pertaining to the future but he not only ad did establish this principle in the hearton he heart artof of man and woman but bat gave divine laws to tok regulate them la in relation to this passion or ora that they might be limited and prescribed in the exercise of it towards each other he therefore or dalbed the marriage institution the marriage that was instituted la in the first place was between two lm immortal mortal beings be ings hence it was marriage for eternity in the very first case which we have recorded for an example marriage for eternity was the order god instituted on our globe as early as the garden of eden as early as the day nhen when N hen our first parents were placed in the garden to keep it and till it they as two immortal beings were united in the bonds of the new and everlasting covenant this was before man fell before the forbidden fruit was wai eaten and before the reads penalty of death was pronounced u upon on the 0 heads of our first parents and all their posterity os hence when god gave to A adam da his wife eye eve he gave her to him as an immortal wife and there was we no ee end nd contemplated co antem of the I 1 relation rel rei atlon on they the hoid hold he id to each other aa as husband and wife by and by after this marrit ge had taken place they transgressed the law of god and by reason of that transgression the tit tut penalty nalty of death came not only upon them but also upon all their posterity death in its operations tore asunder aa as it were these two beings who had hitherto bennim been im mortal and ard if god had not before the foundation of the world provided a plan of redemption they would perhaps havo have been tom torn asunder forever but ima ina inasmuch as a plan of redemption had been pre prO provided Tided b by which man could be rescued from the ersi erst eft efi feets of the fall adara adana and eve were re rei i stored to that condition of union in respect to immortality from which they had been separated for lona lora i a short season of time by death the atonement reached after them and brought forth their bodies from tha the dust and restored them as husband and wife to all the privileges that were pronounced upon them before the fall that was eternal eterna marriage that was waa lawful marriage ordained by god that was the divine institution which was revealed and practiced in tha the early period of our globe low how has it been since that day mankind have strayed from that order of ol 01 things thin or at least they have done so ter times elines we lear bear hear nothing among the tha religious societies of the world which profess to believe in the bible about this marriage for eternity it is among the things that are obsolete now all marriages are consummated until death only they do not believe la in that great pattern and prototype established in the beginning beg bog lunin nence hence we never hear of their official f characters whether or religions biting men I 1 and women bonien in the capacity of husband and wife as immortal beings nother Nothey no ther they marry as mortal beings only and until death does them part what la is to become of them after death what will take place among all those nations who have been marrying for cen centuries centuria turie pr fod for time only do both men and women receive ce ve a resurrection do io they come forth with t I 1 ali ail all the various affections attributes land sand d pas passions ions lons that god gave aye ave them in the beginning beuning does the them male maie e come forth from the gravo grave with all the attributes of a man poes the female come forth from her grave all the attributes of a woman icso if so what iff bat is their fatura destiny ig Is there no object or pur purpose ose in this new creation save 0 to o give them ilde life life a state of existence or is here there a more important object in view in the mind of god in thus creating them anew will that principle of love which exists now naw and which has existed from the tha beginning exist after the resurrection I 1 mean this sexual love if that existed before the fall and if it has existed since then will it exist in the eternal worlds after tile the resurrection this is a question to td be decided fead read in the revelations of god that there are arious various chavies clavies of being beings s in tile the eternal worlds there are some who are kongs priests and gods others that are an feels i and also are the orders tar denominated celestial terrestrial and celestial celestar god however according to the faith of 0 the latter day sain saints ts has ordained that the highest order add and class of beings bei bel ng s that should in the eternal worlds should exist in the capacity of husbands and wives and that they alone should have hare the privilege I 1 of propagating gating their species sp eeles intelligent immortal beings now it ia is wise n no 0 doubt in the great creator croaton to thus limit thi this s great reat and heavenly principle to those who have arrived or come to the highest state of exaltation excellency wisdom knowledge power glory and faithfulness to dwell in his presence that they by this means shall bol bal be prepared to bring up their spirit offspring ini dinall all ali pure and holy principles in the tha eternal worlds in order that they may be happy consequently ile lie does not entrust this privilege of multiplying spirits with the terrestrial or or thel tha lower ertler order of beings there nor with angels but why not because they have not proved themselves ves worthy of this thia great privilege we might reason of the eternal worlds as some of the enemies of polygamy reason 0 othis this state of existence and say sayi that there are just as many males as females there some cele some terrestrial and some teles lal and why not dot have all these paired off two by two because god administers ilis his gifts and his blessings to those who are most faithful giving them more bountifully to the faithful and taking sway away 1 from the 1 that t ailt aily t with f which they had hadj been entrusted and which they had not improve improved d upon that is the or der of god I 1 in n the eternal worlds andi and fAich falch an order ordel exists there it may in a degree ex Is there thero when theses and ana daughters of the most high gidcome God come forth in the morning of the resurrection this thia principe princ prino pl of love will ex astin in their thear bosoms just as it exists here hero only intensified according to the inere increased aed knowledge and understanding which they possess hence they will be capacitated capaci to enjoy the relationships of hustind and wl wife wine fe of parents and children in a hundred fold degree greater than they could ouid in mortality we are not capable while surrounded with the weaknesses of our flesh to enjoy these the se eternal principles in the same degree that will then exist shall these principles of conjugal and parental love and affection be thwarted in the eternal worlds shall they be rooted out and overcome ho no most decidedly not according to the religious notions of or the world these principles will not exist after the resurrection but curreli gion teaches the fallacy notions it is true that we read in ehg New yew testament that in the res they neither marry nor are given in marriage but ara are as the angels in heaven these arette words of our savior when ile he was adil addressing tessing him self to a very wicked elass class of people the sadducees a portion of the jewish nation who rejected jesus and the counsel of god go against their own souls they had not ati attained to the blessings and privileges i of their fathers but had bad apostatized and desda in speaking to them says that in the resurrection ur anthey they neither marry nor are given in marriage marr age but are as the angels or of god I 1 am talking today to day to latter day saints I 1 am not reasoning with j lievers havers if I 1 wera were I 1 should appeal more fully rally to the old testament scriptures to bring in arguments and testimonies to prove th the divine authenticity authentIc Ay of oi le marriages perhaps I 1 may rasy touch upon this for I 1 a few moments for roc forthe fortha the ohe benefit of strangers should there ba be any idour in our OUT midst let me say then that gods people under every dispensation since the creation of the world have generally been mists it say this forthe for lor the benefit of strangers according to the good old book called the bible when god saw proper to call out abraham from all the heathen na dal alons s an and made him a great man in the world I 1 he e saw proper also to make him a polygamist a I 1 a and d approbate 1 him in taking unto himself I 1 self seif more ore wives than one was it wrong in abraham to do this thing it if it I 1 were when did god reprove hl him ting fa nor for so d doing 0 When did he ever reproach jacob fori for i doing the same thing who can find the record in the lids of the ther bible of god reproving abraham as being a sinner and having committed a crime in taking to himself two living wives no such thin thing is recorded he helas was just aa as much bless biess blessed after doing this thing as before and moro more so for god promised blessings upon the fusae issue of by his second wine wife the same as that of the first wife providing he was equally faithful this was idaj a proviso in every case when we come down to Jacob the he lord permitted him to tike like four wre wives they are BO so called in holy writ they are not denominated prostitutes neither uither are they called concubines but they are called wives leeal wives and to show that tb at god approved of the course of jacob in taking these wives he blessed them abundantly and hearkened to the prayer of the second wife same as to the first rachel was the second wife of jacob and our great mother for you know that many of the latter day saints by revelation know themselves to be the |