| Show JOSEPH SMITHS THIRD LETTER HE BE DENIES THAT ABRAHAM abranam AND MOSES VE WEKE mr L 0 littlefied Little sidd nidd logan logon ufah ulab SIR BIB you say in your last that you yon prefer the he plain word of the lord to any statement that I 1 may make malre let me give five you some plain words of the lord behold david and solomon truly had bad many wives and concubines which thing was abominable before me saith balth the lord hear me and hearken to the word of the lord for there ehalt not any man among you yon have save it be one wife and concubines he shall have bave none for I 1 the lord god deligh teth in the chastity of women B of M book of jacob 2 6 behold th the e Lama your brethren whom ye hate bate because of their filthiness flit hiness an and d the curlings cur sings which hath bath come upon their skin skins are more righteous than you for they have not forgotten the commandment of the lord which was given unto our fathers that they should have save it were one wife and concubines they should have none book of jacob acobs and giand they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember member le the new covenant even the book of mormon and the former commandments which I 1 have given them not only to say bay but to do according to that which I 1 have written D and covenants hee bee 4 par 8 liverpool ed in none of your arguments menta have you attempted to answer these very plain words there Is ia not a line or of teaching from 1830 to june 1814 in the books of the church the printed journals journ aiss alss or the published sermons or pamphlets of the eiders elders a reference to the mar ariage relation relations but what contemplates it as you yon admit that you cannot prove from the scriptures that Adam Noah Noa or behl lehi had more than one wife of what weight in the scale ecale of argument is ia 7 your ofir statement that you can find other men named in the history who had the creator evidently knew just how he proposed to people the earth and the fact that at the outset he formed but bat the two adam and eve should be conclusive evidence both as to the intention ot of deity and the fact how ignorantly you yon write when you state that god made man the history of this world in all nil its ita generations erat ions brov proves es it 12 with the ink scarcely dry in the sentence admit ting that adam was the creation of god and eve formed for his one companion and that you cannot wove prove that either he or noah or lehi lehl had more than one you say god created man what new cosmos Is this of which you write do de you yon expect me to believe you sincere when you so BO pervert the very words of the hla his tory tonj the very reason assigned for the destruction by the flood is a denunciation of polygamy doly doiy gamy the sons cf godsak god saw baw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them wives of all which they choose gen 62 this is the opening count in the indictment the inspired translation by joseph smith states that the lord told noah the inthe daughters of thy sons have sold themselves for behold mine anger is kindled against the thes thee oni of meno man for they will not hearken tj ti my voice gen gena 8 3 the voice word of the lord was they twain shall be one flesh in direct accord with the creation the revelation to the church through gli joseph the peer was in keeping with this that it the earth might be filled with the measure of man ac cording to his creation before the world was made B of 0 see bee 45 par 3 liverpool ed eal this proves plainly that when god made man he made him monog monoe amic but man corrupted his hla way before the lord the lords spirit quit striving with them the flood came and destroyed dee deo troyed them except noah a m man a n perfect e afe c t in his generations who 99 walked with god the gene inana noah were monog amio amlo god saved them that ne lula lull lufa establish his covenant with them and i thus preserve a rih rah seed to people the earth this is to beaud I 1 think should be to all wh who 0 deal honestly with the bible a condemnation of marris marriage how ilow can youma littlefield these two exam examples plaes plIes in the history of the world before your eyes and say tb that at god cc created men the intent was waa to people the earth and we are wre not nov to that it was intended to people it with a corrupt seed geed he chose the system and placed the two beings with whom he be began the work upon the tha earth and instituted marriage he repeated the warning by actual de in the Fe selection lection of a family of noah and his wife his three sons and one wife each he led cihi out of the midst of a people whom you yoa say was waa with the purpose stated that he might seek godly seed he gave the rule ruie first by example lehi lehi Lehl and hib bib wife blasens his sons bons and one wie wife each he confirmed it secondarily by the command which I 1 ed and yet you have the hardi hood to impugn the wisdom of such creation and such precept by beclar i ing polygamy the rule and you yon further say fay that god sanctioned polygamy it god designed plural marriage to be the rule why did he not so BO make them a at t the on outset ts et you are the one who 13 is is 13 indulging in bopha try not I 1 I 1 give YOU yon the plain word and the examples in history bi atory and you evade them by sophistry that is as dark as aa it must be ba damaging if you yon still urge that plural mar ariage Is the man it is but proper for me to urge that you yon have no scriptural ground upon which to defend the marriage institution and the right of a man to have more wives than onee hould insure the right rl g ht of a woman to have more husbands husband a than one and the 11 tep to the absence of 0 any restriction as founded in scripture is not far removed it will puzzle you to trace from any hie tory in your possession se silon salon either sacred or profane tho exclusive right of man to choose his female companions to any direct revelation from god it if it is 13 left to the decision of the natural appetites app stites of man mao promiscuity will bo be proven against you your statement that three quarters of the human family accept it polygamy as the natural law 0 of marriage is a singular one does that prove it right the same proportion dl carda jesus jesua agthe as the chrict too 00 oo does that prove the staten stater statement dent that he is untrue what nation natio n accepting the bible and christ accept cep polygamy as the natural law of marriages marr ageo your charge upon the other quarter of the human family that they have adopted in place of honorable polygamy a vile a damnable and a god accursed substitute la Is contemptible temp tible you point to the oho exception in mono gamio nations and call cali it the rule what you allude boand what is known as the social evil is in mono gamio nations thay tho berver erver slon sion of the rule and opposed to I 1 lawi aw quote from your letter af you denounce celestial marriage as aa a crime against mankind and a sin against god we assert that god never has so denounced it but has approved it sanctioned its it encouraged it legalized it and made special laws jaws for its direction that the poly gamrat child was always recognized 99 aa legitimate you xou certainly per ven the me record take tae the instance of abrahami abraham one of your cases cite in proof no prophet gave HF hagar ingar to 0 braham Abraham SaraI Saral the patriarchs patriarch only wife grew jealous of her barrenness she conc conceived elved the idea iden of obtaining a child by yand so ahe she took a slave and put her lu in her place abraham listened to hla hib wife so eo did adam and when fruit resulted from hib hla connection with hagar saral sarai walled bewailed be her wong wrong what was waa this wrong if god had restrained her from bearing was she in fault no her wrong wab was in forgetting the sacredness of the marital relation when the lord speaks in regard to thia thib sobhe puts a very strange blessing upon him to prevent the inheritance inherit anoe anoa from going this fashion the lord gave bia ria bons sony son eon isaac in him was waa the covenant established though ishmael was the first born the lord then speaks concerning this secondary wife tho the slave con cubine and tells abraham to do as sarah enjoined east cast out opt this bondwoman which he did ishmael dwelt away f from orom r om hi hla hib a f fathers athers home house and was a wild man abraham was not a polygamist he had no wite wife by the institution of arriage bah buh barah banah while earah saral lived Sarah barah was dead when abraham ejoy oy no ne also aiso had children but the history states that in order to dut nut t his hs evil example away frone from isaacs isaac abraham sent the sons bons of his concubine concubines 8 he had away avray from his hla son bon to the east cast country and they are not reckoned in his hib posterity this dis dla of the tho departure from the mono gamio rule is ia la in favor of the thought that god did not approve of it no prophet gave him a second wife while sarah lived nor does the record show that there had been a change from the rule as aa given at the first isaacs life affords you yon no comfort rebecca must have ruled her house in respect to her husbands wives as respect joseph seph soph beitha emitha wife emma would have done if he had not sa as YOU yon assert asserts secretly sinned against her the case cage of joseph Is ia only favorable to your view in seeming he was the son rachel I 1 the only legal wife jacob had hid in the chap ter of Gen genella esia esla where the enumeration of israels children takes place none Is ia called jacobs jacobb wife but rachel gen 46 18 the blessing was with joseph josephs jacobs jacobb first born of his hia legal wife no prophet gave jacob his hla plural wives or azaled his bis concubines ts him nor is any law cited by which any such connection was waa authorized you are well aware t that hat all the laws of moses were given under I 1 the code and were called the carnal commandments which the lord in his hie wrath caused to continue with the house of aaron the children of israel till john and christ the law of divorcement a part of your creed said fl moses Mosess for the hardness of your hearts wrote you this precept it Is equally clear from the traditions of the church that the law of carnal commandment nand mente which you cite as regulating polygamy was waa added because of tran transgression egression the hearts of israel were hardened and god swore in his wrath that they should not enter into hib his rest reat J in reply to your ques question tion ing the lords coition of tho apol named in numbers chapter thirty five I 1 am quite willing that the portion that went to eleazar should be aa a heave offering to the lord if you know what a heave offering was of the part that went to the levites Lovita sg the record to is silent eilent as to what tile tiie levites did with them but the inference that they were used as 3 wives ea is farfetched farot faret ched they were klives blives taken in aarand the thought that they could only be used as an u wives or as aa concubines shows the i lustful tendency ten denby of the poly gamio lo mind i A I 1 do total lyou or tho tha world that god ever used polygamy in any sense to raise raibe up beed seed unto him but that in every instance stanca in where he attempted to raise naise up seed beed unto him the rule adopted by him was one man one wife it is became because of that that he calls polygamy abominable I 1 do not consent that he ever need that means for that object and fally faily believe that you cannot show a single instance or command in proof except the so called revelation of 1843 and that Is of such sueh doubtful doubt ful fui parentage that I 1 do not accept it as evidence in point moses was not noi a thera there Is nothing in the history to show that moses moseh had any other otherwise wife than zipporah she was not of the israel I 1 tish host for he had obtained her 0 jethro the prince of midian a Cn ous hite or ethiopian and supposed to be ba a desce deace descendant of abraham by katurah llo ico turah the tha presumption la Is fair that zipporah and the ethiopian woman are one and the same there is ia no question but what when you persistently cite david and solomon aa lo examples that you do so for an excuse whatever you yon may pretend to the ri contrary and to snow show you how superficial has been the reading in regard to david let mo me detail a little of his hib history saul was jealous of the praise be stowed upon david for slaying tire the y philistine philistines and made an attempt on his life with a javelin before he had yeb yeu become V married man I 1 saml 18 19 7 11 saul offered him his elder daughter merab to wife but cheated him out of her giving her to adriel then michael another of sauls daughters loved david and was his first wife for whom he be paid au an hundred trophies taken from the PhIlIstine philistines 3 notwithstanding this marriage paul became more and more Dalvi davids ds enemy I 1 eam earm 18 29 26 this hatred of saul continued until sauls death before which david had twice spared eauva bauls ilife alfe vr who hoh hon ch tha 1 f aa ol of war had bad placed him in his power powers david hiving ha ving gathered numbers to his standard saul had taken michal from david and given her toPhal to phallic tiel tiei and then thell david took ababa widow and ahi noam but there is no proof that samuels or nathan had been the agent through whom he took these wives waa was king of judah and reigned seven years yearb at hebron daring this time war ensued between the armies of david and sauls son abner the general of israel joab for david or judah the tho war between the house of david and the hoube honeo of saul was a long one see 2 sam 3 land I 1 and 6 more than this thia the war between these hosts did not cease until waa vas slain then the tribes were united under the con quedor guer quer orand and as such he reigned in hebron hedron soven seven years yearb over judah and in jerusalem over judah and israel for thirty three years david would not treat with abner until michal the daughter of saul married first to him then to phal tie tiel had been re delivered to him Phalti eis els her second husband husbands followed tho the troop crying after his wife until abner mada mads him return hera hero was waa one woman in icrael that had two hm husband hubband band and it was not samuel e or nathan that gave them in either case again la is lain is in proof that abner abaer had one of saul sauls a wives as his her name was klapac tile the record further states david aavo unto all ali all ali that pertained to saul and to all his house bouse he did this thia in pursuance of his oath to saul that he would not cut cut out off his seed was the son bon of jonathan the grandson or of baul baui 2 sarn bam 9 9 ino 13 ziba the tho servant of saul baul was doubtless the tho steward of hib hla hoube boube and as buch such was in charge of all that belo beio belong belongea cp to saul haul and he was made the wit ness of the transfer of the house family and possessions slaves wives concubines and all of saul baui to his legal representative e therom thero Is igno no evidence to show that david ci had any of tho the family ol of saul as aa ilis bis wives except michal saulo daughter I 1 did not use the words cou quer quor orand and 69 fortunes of var vaz without good warrant as any man among you not a polygamist ingrain will acknowledge if ho he wili will read the record for himself II if the example of david Is good permit mo me to enquire who succeed ed to the home house of pres B yaun young g holett he left houegs lands ilja ive wives lve sand band and I 1 children hodd hadd nat die fightlin g the philistines in prime in the din of battle but in his bed after he be bad had disposed of his |
