aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

14 AEOUND THE WORLD.
at Wittenburg on the question, " Whether it is contrary to
the divine law for a man to have two wives at once ? "
and decided unanimously that it tvas not; and, upon the
authority of this decision, Phihp, Landgrave of Hesse, actually
married a second wife, his first being still alive. This
fact is recorded in D'Aubign(i's History of the Reformation,
and by other authors of that period.*
Rev. Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, eminent as a
theologian, wrote a tract upon the question, " Is a plurality
of wives in any case lawful under the gospel ? " Here is an
extract —
:
"Neither is it [a plurality of wives] anywhere marked among the
blemishes of the patriarchs.
David's wives, and store of them he had,
are termed, by the prophet, God's gift to him; yea, a plm-ality of -wives
was made in some cases a duty by Moses' law; w'hen any died without
issue, his brother, or nearest kinsman, was to marry his wife, for raising
up seed to him; and all were obliged to obey this, under the hazard of
infamy if they refused it; neither is there any exception made for such
as were maiTied. From whence I may faithfully conclude, that what
God made necessary in some cases to any degree can in no case be smful
itself;
since Grod is holy iu aU his ways."
While some Christians, and all Utah Mormons, accept
polygamy as biblical and divine in origin, only about one
family in ten of the latter practices it. The responsibilities
are too vital and potent. Household inhaxmonies are unpleasant.
And then, children must be cared for, expenses
met. Few, it is commonly believed, have wives sealed to
them from vile sensual motives : still the look is unspiritual.
The equally of the sexes stoutly wars against polygamy.
As an institution, it is semi-barbaric. Intelligence, and
the soul's moral consciousness, condemn it. In Utah it is
wilting under the frost-seal of a death that can know no
resurrection. The more intellectual of the young, among
these Latter-Day Saints, are not Mormons. They do not
• Hon. W. H, Hooper's Plea for Religious Liberty, p. 14.