| Show aed AND POLYGAMY SALT lare LAKE CITY oct 21 1879 dewrel news some objectors claim that mono all the social purity ana and polygamy all the social impurity the very reverse of chiq thi might be nearer the truth where has there been exhibited more so elal cial corruption corrupt on than ia in greece and rome bomb in later times has ihna paris vienna christiana stockholm madrid or llma lima anything wonderful to boast of in the matter of moral purity have pot got mono morI gamio catholics and their celibate priests and nuns in various ages and divers countries furnished multitudes of notoriously impure characters can monogamous texas and california or the western states and territories generally justly claim the palm paim palm in moral mat term Hav have ebol hot ahe bowie knife and the revolver been the principal instruments aeed in promoting the peculiar civilization of the wesl weal la Is not utah the moat moral religious peaceably inclined law abiding and exemplary of all the territories excluding the borrup lions introduced and determinedly sustained by loudly prot prof professing eesing mo some persons ignorant querulous captious unprincipled or unscrupulous may way abbert that plurality of wives ia is equivalent to adultery and has been practiced only by wicked persons persona in opposition to the will 0 of f god and not by any righteous a maln man in good goad standing lefo guto him or in any wige wise acceptable to io him but all biblical schol jirs urs ufa and aud students of intelligence and candor do allow that plurality of 6 wives was practised practiced aymen by men ot of god guclu gud in israel isrnel in ancient times yet many many assume that those were dark ages and that god then excused many things in his bis people on that account whick which can not be allowed in iii this day of gospel light what divine light has the world that it did not receive through those ancient men of god anti and through a p polygamous 1 race where is the evidence that god ia la lavetter better pleased with the nineteenth century uhan than willi the bible cen centuries if it there is it aus ans a vitt let jet it be fan brought forth A quarter of a cerl cori century tury tuny ago a Loti tion monog magazine held the following language monogamy or single marriage that id 14 marriage to tv ule one bif w ifa ife ai at once is 18 an old roman practice adopted by the roman church and thus introduced into chrid christen ten teu dom oom whether the apostles apo sties atlea taught j it or dut nut we cannot bay eay lis ils aa st paul tt it only on bishops ola oia hops thereby bp hp wever waver inculcating the propriety of or it without enforcing it asaji as ile lie no roman ruman was allowed to liay ilav 0 two two wives at abonce once onee but was liable io be punished for bigamy ma was waa the first boman roman wn 10 0 hadl two wives juilus julius caiar 21 foj ed d to have a law passed in favor of polygamy but could not effect it the early chris BO so naturally adopted this habit roman of that we WV are aro apt to the monogamy ot tile 1110 western world to christian jt ity lly hut hub this id la a mistake thero there the ghe ro ja ig no evidence of it either elther in scripture or in history ayi lt it ia Is a well eil ell known fact that ven concubinage was sanctioned by the early carly church A man was allowed to keep a concubine without marriage budnot but not a concubine and a wife together see bing eing bams antibu antiquities ties book xvi c e 11 to return tu to the habits of the early or primitive church would be a retrograde tr tro grade movement and therefore even if the mormons cormons Mor mons can show that there thera la Is nothing against polygamy in the new now testament it willbe wili will be of little service to them it is the practice of an age k of barbarism arn the editor of the bame same journal a few ago wrote ay uty was wab undoubtedly uri uti the practice lf of tha tho old testament reb res tameric worthies here are a doctrine and custom provided for or la in the bible and tided without condemnation but evident sanction by prophets and aud other of the greatest men 0 of god that ever lived who walked nud end talked with him and were specially specialty instruct instructed od and blessed of him hen and yet this able and intelligent british protestant opponent of this thia doctrine and custom ia Is driven to relinquish elin scriptural aroun do of 0 0 opposition pos it lona tona as utterly untenable an and pd to fall back in argument on the paltry plea ples of antiquity non re ability and barbarism what de desperate sperAto straits to be driven tol to what a wonderfully weak position to sustain the policy that rejects a thin thing 9 because it ia is ancient will reject nearly all truth because truth troth ia Is aa as old as the hills it is to one of the old est eat things in existence it is eternal and immutable to discard renounce repudiate or refuse to ye re ceide accept or allow merely on the score of antiquity anything i hat bat is good and true Is aa an evidence of the greatest folly As to non non don respectability if the laws of god ged are not respectable eions what institutions are it is certain that provisions regulating plurality of wives were incorporated in the divine I 1 laws aws given by god through moses to I 1 he the hebrews and not annulled in the christian dispensation pensa tion EO rio far as the bible record gives ksany us any information in regard to this his charge of barbarism th the author of the history and flom ilow of f marriage bays says alae we have always accustomed ourselves to believe that polygamy originated in barbarism that it ia is perpetuated by barbarians only and that it panders to the basest and most depraved of human pas slone but jet let us now think tor for ours oure ourselves elves for one I 1 claim that right I 1 dare to question the superior purity of monogamy and on behalf of the despised and persecuted system of polygamy poly paly gamy I 1 venture to appeal ff from orn oin the rash decisions of prejudice to the solemn tribunals of divine and natural law and in support of this thia appeal I 1 cite the facts of sacred and profane history and plead the inalienable rights 0 of man fr gan aan an idolatrous nation practising monogamy has never been able long to exist history does not furnish one example buch such nations soon eoon become so incurably corrupt aa as to incur the wrath of Go godana god dand and are swept from the face of oattie ott oft 4 ate tie fie earth neither civilization nor barbarism military power nor pusillanimity lani mity tyranny nor freedom monar monarchy chyl aristocracy nor democracy literature art wealth genius nor stupidity has ever aver been able to save them many buch such states and nations have started in the race of glory and perpetual ui empire but each of them tiam has come to premature decay buch bach were the different states elates of ancient greece and ancient italy many of them bed for having produced men of 0 the mot moat brilliant genius and the mort moat renowned jt d experience in the various artson arts of po eme twe and maraud several ot of them achieving extensive conquests and be becoming vast empi empl empires reB yet they very boon soon collapsed ana and and went to ruin and buch euch was the late fath of the many scores or perhaps hundreds of the petty patty states of all europe before the establishment of christianity they rabe rase they they became licentious they fell wave after wave of the purer puren races raees of the polygamists of asia rolled over them and assumed their places and as thebo in turn fell into luto their social habits and adopted their monogamy lind and became corrupt they niao alao became extinct and were succeeded hy by newer and purer immigrations im on the other hand the leta ieta of asia have preserved their social purity and aud niong along with it many of their nationalities through every age notwithstanding their mo bame hame such are aro the nations of bochina oC ohina china hina japan and arabia whose living languages and existing jaws date back to the very earliest record of antiquity an intelligent christian nation practicing polygamy has never yet exi exl feted simply because the two institutions unions have hitherto been deemed incompatible and irreconcilable polygamy is not barbarism for it haa baa been maintained and supported by such men as abraham david and salomon whose superiors in MI all that constitutes the highest civilization knowledge piety wisdom and refinement of mind and mail mari manners ners nets the world has never known either in ancient or modern times yet polygamy though it be not nob barbarism has almost almott always and everywhere prevailed where a simple natural and state of society subsists lecky lechy in his slony of european morat makes some re marka maika be b e ions lons although his hla p personal r sentiments are decidedly ju in respect to this virtue chastity ti ty the various tribes of barbarians however violent end and lawless were far superior to the more e civilized community 1 th the moral purity parity of the barbarians was of a k kind nd altogether different from that which the ascetic movement inculcated it was concentrated exclusively upon marriage it showed itself in a noble conjugal con coo jugal fidell fidelity i ty but it was little titled for a life of celibacy the practice of polygamy among the bar barbarian barlan barian kings was also for some centuries unchecked or at least unsuppressed by christianity the kings Ca carlbert ribert and chii Chil peric perie had both many wives at the sime time Clot baire haire married the sister of his first wife during the lifetime of the latter who on the hing king announcing his intentions to her is reported to have said let glet my lord do what good in his sight only let thy servant live in thy favor bt st columbanus was expelled from gaul chiefly on account of his denunciations of the polygamy of king Th thierry lerry dagobert bad three wives and he indulged largey yin in concubines after this peri perl 03 id examples of this nature beeme became rare but bat ing thebe these startling facts there can be no doubt that the general purity of the barbarians was from the first superior to that of the later romans it is one of the most remarkable and to some writers one of the most perplexing facts in the moral history of greece that in the former eio Elo So merio merlo or and ruder period women bad edly the highest place and their type exhibited ithe the highest perfection moral ideas la in a thousand forms have been sublimated enlarged and changed by advancing civilization but it may be fearlessly fear less lesi asserted that the types of female excellence which are contained in the greek poems while they are among the earliest are aru also among the most perfect in the literature of mank mankind ibid ikid tile conjugal con coa jugal tenderness lessof of hector antl and the unwearied fidelity of penelope awaiting through the long revolving years the return of her storm tossed hubband husband the heroic love of albeatis aice Alce atis voluntarily dying that her husband might live the filial piety of antigone the majestic grandeur of the death of Polyxena the more saintly resignation resign allon alion of lp excusing with hor her last I 1 breath the tho lather wha bad boj demner hier tier the joyous modest and aud loving nausicaa whose figure ehinea thin elike ilku ilke a perfect idl idyl aunanu the tragedies of the odyssey al all these are pic pictures tarea tares of perennial beauty which rome and christendom chivalry or modern civilization have neither eclipsed or transcended virgin modesty and conjugal fidelity the graces as well as the virtues of the most perfect womanhood have never been more exquisitely portrayed on theother the other othen hand band mr leckey presents a very different picture of the people of the ibe same country at a later period in the historical or monogamy ous oue age of greece tue legal poal tiou of women had in bome some measure slightly 1 improved d but their moral condition had undergone a marked deterioration the foremost and most dazzling type of ionic womanhood was the courte zan zau and among the males at leabus least the empire of passion was unrestricted strict ed the names of virtu virtuous ous oui women sea sec scarcely treely appear in greek history A few instances of conjugal cor jugal and filial affection have beun been recorded but in general the only women who attracted the notice of the people were the haimm helse se or courte were the priestesses in her temples the courtesan court ezan was the one free woman of athene the christian doctrine that it Is li criminal to gratify a powerful and a transient physical appetite except under the condition of a lifelong contract was altogether unknown an aversion to marriage became very general connections were formed with the most perfect frankness and publicity notwithstanding these confessions mr lecky being a monogamist is an opponent of polygamy throughout hid bid work yet strange to say he is disposed to accord impunity to adultery which is contrary to the seventh commandment and is to strongly condemned all through the bible he Is la disposed tb advocate the keeping of distresses mistresses mi stresses sess and the begett begetting irig of illegitimate children as such t connections which are confessedly only for a few years ears have hava ave always subsisted ald aid bide side u by side with permanent marriages under certain circumstance he be bays pays it qt would be I 1 believe impossible to prove by the light of simple and unassisted reason that auh buh connections connect iona tona should be anvari ably condemned Is he cond derm that illegitimate distresses mistresses mi barn would tend to prevent promiscuous intercourse and the multiplication of imprudent marriages s thus like many other monogamists rather than allow the bible system of honorable plural marriage to prevail be he would tolerate the commission of actual adultery or fornication and placidly accept the natural consequence of an unrestricted posterity of bastards fur run sas bas he be ichu in the t be e variety of circumstances and character characters caes will appear in which on utilitarian grounds they such unhallowed connections might seem advisable vi such is the enlarged intelligence telli gence and advanced civilization of thie the nineteenth century accord ing to mr lecky becky I 1 will now introduce caritus vari va ritus us references feren ces ancient and modern showing n g t atie ah a prevalence of polygamy as an acknowledged and honorable custom in scripture times and since in hon geo Q cannon cannons able review of the decision of the supreme courtot the united states in the case of george reynolds vs va the united states maybe may be found the following A learned and christian writer grotius upon the law jaw of nations a stan standard dard authority in dom advances the following proposition 11 1 l when god permits a thing in certain cases and to certain persons or in regard to certain nations it maybe may be inferred that the thing permitted is not evil in its own nature my space will no not permit p e amit me to give at length his interesting te argument upon this pro proposition but out hla his logical conclusion is that thad polygamy therefore eis ois is not in its nature evil and unlawful in another place he says but it cannot thence thrice be inferred that the thing polygamy jis jia is evil in itself according to the law of nature 11 theodore theodoret says that in abra hamb hama time polygamy was forbidden neither by the law of nature eor by any written law sl st ambrose speaking of poly g axy ya cani odd Cf arf aff in a abo ctr terna trial paradise paradises approved of the marriage of one with one without condemning the cont colt contrady rayy raty practice pra cuco cloo 3 he eie then proceeds to quote |
