CHAPTER XXXVII:  PLACE OF YOUR DWELLINGS.

Six days shalt thou labour.

1. Israel, in all ages, when they have been a people, have been gathered in large communities. While they wandered, they were in tribes and families, consisting of large bodies of men. Whenever they settled down, it was in cities, towns, and villages. This was their order from the time of Abraham, till the taking of Jerusalem by the Romans.

2. The Hebrews, of every lineage, wherever they have a separate existence, follow this Law. The Arabs, descendants of Abraham by Hagar, have never departed from it; and the Tartar tribes, his children in the line of Keturah, keep it till the present time. The American Indians, descended from the Patriarch Joseph, keep up the custom in almost every place.

3. In Europe the same custom prevails in many States and nations. With the German and Sclavonian nations this order is nearly universal. Of the Russian provinces less is known, but it is thought that the same custom is nearly universal there. It is also found to a great extent in Asia and Africa.

It everywhere presents itself as a primeval custom, partially lost in the corruptions of the age.

4. Man was not designed for solitude and loneliness. Neither sound moral sentiment, the pure affections of the heart, or distinguished intelligence and usefulness are likely to grow up in solitude. Men, by living separate from each other, learn to hate.

5. Though there may be frequent disagreements among the members of congregated communities, yet, on the whole, their attachments are necessarily exceedingly strong. Constant association develops the affections of the heart. Ideas are communicated from individual to individual, by which they are made partakers of each others knowledge. Emulation produces superiour excellence. Institutions for publick instruction are easily kept up. Knowledge is easily brought within the reach of all.

6. In a community thus constituted, no ordinary power can exercise tyranny and oppression. In a rural village every man must know the rights and possessions of his neigbbour. If either is invaded, all will feel their insecurity, and a burst of indignation from the whole community would nip oppression in the bud.

7. The congregated numbers who cultivate the soil of a considerable district, would be able to interpose a strong barrier to the progress of lawless bands, such as have robbed the Saints heretofore, and to defend themselves against any violence short of open warfare.

8. For the purpose of adding as much as possible to their security, all their dwellings and buildings of every kind, should be erected with reference to joint defence. Every house should be a fortress, and part of a system of fortification.

2. In the fields and forests may you go and

Total—3 sec., 182 words, 761 letters.

1. The gathering of the Saints to places chosen of God would be of little account if they might scatter abroad, every man at his own pleasure. The Commandment of God is to come out from among the wicked, that ye be not partakers of their sins, and receive not of their plagues. (Rev. xviii, 4.) The command implies danger that good men may be led away from righteousness, by the prevailing wickedness, as many have been.

2. But as it is sometimes necessary, on one’s private business, and sometimes for the publick service, for some to go among them for the time, this mode is provided, subject to needful restraints of obtaining permission.

CHAPTER XXXVIII:  GROVES, FORESTS, AND WATERS.

The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.

3. Ye shall preserve the trees by the wayside. And if there be none, ye shall plant them. Whether it be in the cities, towns,

Total—5 sec., 240 words, 1,027 letters.

1. Greece has become a desolation, her fields a desert, and her rivers dried up, by the destruction of the forests. Much of Palestine has suffered in the same manner. The Lybian deserts are slowly but surely advancing on the fertile alluvion of the Nile, because there are no forests there.

2. In higher latitudes forests are equally necessary as a protection against cold, especially against winter storms. Prairie and timber regions afford a most striking contrast, in winter comforts, in favour of the latter.

3. But, aside from these advantages, there is a peculiar beneficence in providing abundant publick parks and watering places. They are the harbingers of health and happiness. And the common fisheries of the waters, and pasturage of publick groves, and unappropriated forests, will be a great relief to such poor people as are to be found at times in the best governed States. The poor you have always with you.

CHAPTER XXXIX:  APPAREL AND ORNAMENTS.

Thou shalt keep the Sabbath day holy unto the Lord, that thou forget not the Law,
nor be found keeping the company of the vile, nor be despised by the righteous.

1. This Command forbids all those extravagancies in dress which occasionally become fashionable, regardless of health and convenience. But it does not forbid ornamenting and enriching the clothing, in any manner which is seemly and convenient.

2. The constant change of the style of dress, under the name of new fashions, is exceedingly inconvenient; requiring great waste in making over, or throwing by clothing; or the use of inferiour material, which, at a slight diminution of cost, will last only the period of short lived fashion.

3. Every form of dress which pinches and compresses the body or limbs, so as to prevent a full natural growth, is grossly inconvenient and unseemly. The narrow shoes and boots, preferred by most men and women, are liable to this objection; and it is a depraved taste which admires them. More objectionable, because violating more fatally the laws of life, are the small waisted garments, generally worn by women and occasionally by men, for many years back.

4. Besides these styles of dress, objectionable because they

injure health, shorten life, and produce hereditary disease and weakness, there is a numerous class of fashions and styles to be discarded for less reasons; such as enormous bell crowned hats, sleeves broad enough to cover the whole person, long narrow skirted coats, resembling a tail rather than a garment, skirts swinging below the knees, or enlarged with hoops to enormous proportions, or padded out to the uncouth style of a camel’s hump.

5. A most serious objection to following the fashions of Gentiles, is, their tendency to divide the rich against the poor, and the poor against the rich. With fashions changing every season, only the most wealthy are able to wear really rich clothing, and keep up with the fashions. They are tempted to affect distinction, by making the changes so frequent that few can keep up with them. Where custom forbids appearing in publick a second time with the same dress, the burden is truly enormous. Poorer people, especially those who, though doing much business, are in debt, are frequently ruined in endeavoring to keep within the circle of fashion.

The style of these robes will be given from time to time, as they become necessary in the publick administrations.

3. And all the people in their solemn asemblies, and in their gatherings together,

Apparel for solemn assemblies and publick occasions is a matter of divine appointment. That for common uses is not positively of divine appointment, though restrained and regulated by Commandment. Within proper limitations everyone can exercise his own taste in common apparel; and it is even allowed when sojourning among Gentiles to imitate, to some moderate extent, their foolish and ridiculous styles, to avoid impertinent observations, so they are not hurtful to health.

Total—4 sec., 117 words, 548 letters.

1. These ornaments will distinguish Priesthood, Order, Degree, and Office. It is a high offence to put on false insigna; and a humiliating punishment to be compelled to take the proper insigna off for unworthy conduct.

2. Gold is the proper colour for the Priesthood of an Endless Life, and silver for the Priesthood of Life; but other material may be used, having reference to colour and incorruptibility.

3. It is not allowable for any one to wear or have other ornaments so much resembling those which distinguish the Priesthood that they may be mistaken for Priestly insigna, nor to wear the insigna of any Priesthood but his own, nor to wear the insigna when he is interdicted from the exercise of Priestly functions. These ornaments should be worn in worship and publick assemblies, and may at other times.

CHAPTER XL:  FEASTS.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work;
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.

1. The direct and positive obligation of the Sabbath is, to make it a day of rest, and to have a holy convocation; that is, an assembly for religious worship.

2. The obligation to make it a day of rest is upon every house, and upon all that dwell therein; and it is the duty of all to assemble in Temples and Synagogues to worship God, and to execute his Law.

3. Each of these duties is, in some degree, modified by the necessity of doing some small amount of work which could not be anticipated and provided against during the preceding days of the week, and an occasional necessity for some to re-

main at home to care for those who are unable to attend at the house of worship. These exceptions will not excuse persons absenting themselves from publick worship, on the score of ill health, who are able to give some slight attention to business; nor to remain at home to take care of those whom they can leave on other days; nor will they excuse working on the Sabbath because it is very profitable, when by resting they would not absolutely abandon property to destruction.

4. There are some kinds of business really necessary among men, which cannot be conducted without an occasional departure from the strict rule of the Sabbath. Such labours, being really necessary, are not forbidden; but should be pursued with sincere regard to the sanctity of the Sabbath.

5. The Priesthood, in their administrations, according to the letter of the Commandment, profane the Sabbath as oft as it occurs; but to its intent they keep it. (Matt xii, 5.) Sailors are obliged to work more or less on the Sabbath. It is enough for them to keep it as far as the necessities of their business will admit. Some kinds of business require incessant labour for more than six days. In such employments every one should sanctify as a Sabbath an entire day, either beginning or ending during the Sabbath, by means of which the Sabbath of a part would begin when that of the rest ended, and thus all enjoy Sabbath blessings without preventing the work.

6. Recreations are not forbidden on the Sabbath, and are appropriate to it; but attending a holy convocation is a duty. Those, therefore, who do not faithfully attend it with sincerity of heart, ought to be excluded from all recreations as profane persons, contemners of the Sabbath.

7. The Sabbath is for beasts of burden, as well as for man. They are subject unto man, and ought to rest with him. It

is not unlawful, however, to drive them for the purpose of carrying infants, infirm and aged, to the sanctuary, so their load is not burdensome, and the distance such as men usually walk to attend the convocation. But anything which really amounts to labour, it is unlawful to put upon them.

*8th July.

10. When the Gentiles evilly entreated us, and afflicted us, and thrust us out, we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers; the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and sorrow, and homelessness; and he gave us this land for an everlasting possession; and hath made us a Kingdom: and now have I brought unto him this victim for a thank-

1. The feast of firstfruits is held once a year, but may, if found desirable, be held oftener, being governed by the times of the principal harvests. It is not necessary that it be held at the same time in all places, but in every place according to the harvests of that country.

2. Firstfruits are required of all who dwell upon the inheritance of the Saints. Of the Saints, the head of every house is required also to offer a victim, according to his substance. If the stranger offers a victim, it is acceptable. For refusing a victim, or offering an insignificant one, or curtailing the amount of firstfruits, the frown of God and the disdain of the righteous is deemed a sufficient punishment.

Total—17 sec., 867 words, 3,657 letters.

1. It is required, at all times of the year, before you eat of your harvest, to offer firstfruits before the Lord at such places as shall be appointed to receive them. This offering may be as small as you please, so it is entire; for it is only a memorial of firstfruits.

2. But at the time of the feast of firstfruits all are required to offer according to their abundance; and of those things which are not put to use till the feast of firstfruits, no memorial need be offered, but the offering for the feast.

3. Those living very remote from the place appointed for receiving firstfruits, who have a real necessity for using of a crop without the delay necessary in making the offering, may conscientiously set out the firstfruits, and they shall be holy to the Lord as if offered at the proper place, and eat of the crop. But if they then fail of bringing forward that which is thus sanctified and duly offering it, they will be guilty, and must make an atonement as for refusing firstfruits. Withholding firstfruits is a grievous offence.

CHAPTER XLI:  INHERITANCES.

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: thou shalt maintain his right against his enemy.

4. Ye shall not sell your inheritances: nor shall ye deliver them to the hands of strangers, to possess them. Ye shall in no wise grant them to others: for they are the dwel-

Total—3 sec., 337 words, 1,451 letters.

Inheritances usually consist of a town lot of about one acre, and a farm of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred acres.

CHAPTER XLII:  DESCENT OF INHERITANCES.

1. The son of the father’s flesh, born of a free woman, before any other of such a mother, is firstborn by the Law. If there is no son of a free woman, the son of a concubine is firstborn by the Law. In either of these cases, if the mother lived with the father as his wife, under a betrothal or a defective marriage, at the time her first son was born, he will not forfeit his right as firstborn thereby.

2. If there is no son by a wife, the oldest son by any strange woman will inherit as firstborn; but if he has no son of his own flesh, then the son first adopted, if he has made no distinction among them, or the one he has exalted above all others, if he has so exalted any one, shall inherit as firstborn.

2. The sons which he hath adopted shall be reckoned with the sons he hath begotten. They are his. But if any of his sons have received an inheritance already, they shall

If a son accepts a separate inheritance, he cannot inherit from his father as firstborn, though he is every way worthy, nor can he have a portion as a son, because he is thus already made equal with him. He gains by this a full inheritance, in-stead of a portion; but his younger brother who inherits as firstborn, will take precedence before him in the family.

1. An heiress is one whose father has an inheritance, but no son. If there are several of them, such as wish to inherit from their father must retain his name, and name it on their husbands; otherwise they will lose their portions.

2. If one who has received an inheritance wishes to return after his father’s death, and claim a portion, he must give up his own inheritance; and he cannot return without the con-sent of all the heirs. If one who has already received a portion of his father’s inheritance marries an heiress, his portion will return to the head of the house.

4. If a man die having no sons, but daughters, the inheritance shall belong to them: the men who shall take them to wife, shall be called after the name of their fathers, every man after the name of his wife’s father: otherwise he shall not possess the inheritance.

An only son, or a son in a small family, ought not to marry an heiress, because, as he cannot perpetuate both houses, he thus becomes the possible means of extinguishing one or the other. Having once assumed the name of his wife’s father, he cannot return to his fathers house, even to save it from extinction.

In case the inheritance is merely given to him who is needy, without reference to the name of its former possessor, he takes in his own name, and the house of the former is lost.

When the possessor has not improved and given value to his inheritance, if he abandons it one year it may be given to another. But if he has made valuable improvements, it will not be given to another until he evinces a design of total abandonment.

In such a case the custom is to grant the inheritance to some worthy man, requiring him to pay him who gave it up a sum sufficient to improve another in a similar manner. But this will not be done, when the change is without counsel.

9. If the King seek men to go up to a new land to possess it by the Command of the Lord your God, then shall the sons among many brethren go up and establish their houses, and their names shall be named upon their inheritances, that they may be kept up forever. And they shall not inherit with

While the land is abundant and waiting to be occupied, it is desirable that most of the sons thus go up to new lands, and establish themselves on inheritances, instead of remaining to receive a portion of their fathers’. But, when duly qualified, it is preferable that the firstborn remain to inherit, because otherwise a younger brother wilt take precedence of him.

The distinction should ever be kept up between an inheritance and a portion. The inheritance is one and indivisible. All that inherit receive their portions in it, unless they choose to occupy it jointly. The division of an inheritance into portions is not desirable, when the whole house can agree in occupying it jointly. It is desirable to double up the portions, but they cannot go to strangers.

Total—12 sec., 602 words, 2,437 letters.

CHAPTER XLIII:  SOCIAL ORDER.

Thou shalt comfort thy neighbour when he mourns, and nurture him when he sickens:
thou shalt not abate the price of what thou buyest of him, for his necessity;
nor shalt thou exact of him, because he leaneth upon thee.

15. This is the law of the servant taken captive in war, and of the servant bought with money, and of the servant born in thy

This Law does not justify slavery. The servitude is voluntary. Every servant can depart from oppression, at his will.

Total—17 sec., 956 words, 3,988 letters.

CHAPTER XLIV:  HOUSEHOLD RELATIONS.

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: for in so doing thousands shall rise up and call thee blessed, and the Lord thy God shall strengthen thee in all the work of thy hand.

1. Though going after strange women is a great sin, the iniquity ought to be visited on the parents, rather than the children of fornication. The child by a strange woman is an heir; and if his father refuses to acknowledge him, may be affiliated.

2. But the effect of indulgence in such sins is general corruption of the physical systems of the whole people. If persisted in, it would result in the extermination of any people.

[1 Gen. i, 28. ix, 1, 7. Lev. xxvi, 9. Ps. cxxvii, 3. cxxviii, 3, 6.

The unrestrained indiscriminate intercourse of the sexes, generally practiced, and to some extent justified, in Christian countries, diminishes by a full moiety the natural increase of the race, and greatly aggravates the diseases and all the miseries of life. Yet these evils every where accompany Monogamy.

1. A man is equally forbidden to marry his father’s wife, as his mother; and his son’s wife, as his daughter; and whom he may not marry; to lie with her, is abominable incest. In either case the offence ought to be punished with dismemberment or death. But when there is a possibility that the accused is a victim of false witness, he ought to be spared these extreme penalties.

2. Several instances are mentioned in the scriptures where men married their sisters, without any word of disapproval. But the words brother and sister are frequently used to signify any near of kin, and included cousins as well as brothers and sisters, in the modern sense. In some of these cases the relationship was by adoption, and not by blood, and therefore no obstruction to marriage. In no case does it appear that a servant of God married his sister by blood.

4. Thou shalt not marry a virgin in infan-

1. The period of life when marriage is proper varies much in different climates, and more or less in races, families, and individuals. As a general rule in medium latitudes sixteen years of age for males, and fourteen for females, has been determined on; but in equatorial regions a much earlier age is proper.

2. Many modern writers justify marriages with dwarfs, hunchbacks, and other deformed persons. A corrupt sentimental feeling has been engendered in favour of such marriages, supported with the maxim that the marriage is not to the casket, but the soul within it. The person is not the casket; it is the soul. The clothes only are the casket. All that lives is soul; and it is that which is married. To marry such, is to perpetuate their monstrosity.

3. The children of insane parentage are eminently subject to that infirmity. The children of hating or even of indifferent parents, are cold hearted and ill tempered; on the whole, have inferiour intellects; and are more subject to idiocy. Most idiots are begotten in anger.

4. It is singular that in times when so much pains is taken to improve the breeds and raise the best stocks of animals, there is so general an indifference about the breed of men; such an entire disregard of the difference in stocks, and of all the means of improving them.

5. Men are exceedingly careful of the sires of their pigs, lambs, calves, colts, and mules, that they be of the best phys-

ical form; but will give their daughters in marriage to miserably misformed men, to be the sires of their grandchildren.

6. The same means which will improve a breed of cattle, will improve a race of men; and it is worthy of note that intellectual and moral as well as material qualities run with the race. Consequently any race may be improved by crossing the best stocks upon the best, having respect to intellectual and moral as well as material development, and giving the progeny superiour culture. Against such advantages wealth is a shadow.

7. In the struggle of human passions it would not be safe to take the same remedy against a debased race, as is taken in the animal world. The temptation to partiality and injustice is too great. But there are certain springs of human action, which, when brought into healthy exercise, will work a more effectual cure.

8. If a man possessed of every excellence may marry a number of wives, and raise a multitude of children; if a woman of superiour endowments may choose the father of her children among the best of men, without disgrace to herself, or stain upon them, the superiour will not consort with the degraded.

9. Under a system which forbids woman to propose marriage, she is left to take up with such as offer, whether worthy or not, or go barren. And as more men than women prefer solitary lives, in the main they are obliged to mate with men inferiour to themselves. The uncertainty of ever receiving another offer, induces many a woman to mate herself with a man whom it requires an effort not to despise.

10. Relieve woman of this embarrassment, by such a system that men who are suitable to be the fathers of the next generation, may have several wives; restore the sentiment

that a multitude of children are a crown of glory to an old man; and every comely, virtuous and intellectual woman will refuse marriage till she can mate with one equal or superiour to herself; leaving men of ill temper, immoral habits, ignorance, sensuality and corrupt flesh to connect with vile women, or go childless to their graves. There is, on earth, no redemption for man short of this.

Every man having a wife, and seeking another, ought to consult the wishes of the former. But she cannot interpose an absolute veto. If her objection is in any degree well founded, it ought to prevail; but if it is merely captious, or capricious, the Judges would not sustain it. It is better not to press an objection which her husband is not satisfied with, unless it is really a strong one, founded in a legal obstacle, or a positive unfitness. But any objection from a good wife should weigh greatly with her husband.

At the age of twenty years a daughter has a right to give herself in marriage, without her father’s consent. He ought not to withhold to give her at an earlier age to a worthy man, whom she loves, because not the man of his choice; and at that age she ought to seek his consent, though not concluded by his refusal.

1. It is a father’s duty to seek to get his sons well married, soon after they are sixteen years old. He may restrain them from improper marriages, till they are twentythree. But to refuse to allow a son to take one wife, who was not liable to any just and well founded objections, down till he was twen-

tythree years old, would be so gross an abuse of parental authority, as to justly call for the interposition of the Judges.

2. The power of the parents over the marriages of their children, is a conservative power. They ought not to make their matches; only to aid them in proper, and restrain them of improper unions. As this power ceases early in life, and is ever subject to the supervision of the Judges, to prevent its use for malicious and selfish purposes, it cannot work any very serious grievances.

1. A covenant or promise to marry is a betrothal. It is not in the nature of a commercial contract, and the breach of it cannot be compensated in money. In most cases, if a man is disposed to rid himself of the engagement, it is better to release him; but it is a matter of the heart, which every woman must judge for herself. If she insists, and he cannot show good cause against her, he should be punished accor-

ding to the magnitude of the offence, and put under interdict against marrying at all, until the offence is purged.

2. But if a man will lie with a woman, and beget seed upon her, he is under obligation to his child and to society to marry her. He cannot object that she is unworthy, for any less cause than will justify putting away. At worst she is as fit to be his companion, as the mother of his children.

Total—15 sec., 827 words, 3,385 letters.

Such a woman would stand at the head of her house, precisely as a man stands at the head of his, having her own distinct inheritance, and retaining her own name, and naming it upon her children. Her children would inherit from her, but not her husband or any other of his children. He would have little to do with her, except to be the father of her children; and would possess his own separate inheritance. Miriam and Deborah are examples.

POLYGAMY.

1. Polygamy has existed from the earliest ages. (Gen. iv, 19.) It is often mentioned in the sacred oracles, and never

spoken against. The absence of prohibition will not, as a general rule, amount to a justification. But as this institution began in the life time of Adam, and, with a single exception, has continued with most nations through all time, until this present; as it was practiced by a large number of the Patriarchs and Prophets, and favoured servants of God; the fact that it is not spoken against, raises a very strong presumption that God looks upon it with favour.

2. It is not however left to rest on presumption, or any doubtful construction. Its sanctity is a matter of distinct divine testimony. Nor is it true, as many have said, that Polygamy is permitted in the Old Testament, but prohibited in the New. It is required by the Old, and not forbidden by the New Testament; and though the Book of Mormon interdicts it in the case of the Nephites, (Jacob i, 4. ii, 6,) the interdict is expressly stated to be in consequence of general corruptions which prevented the well working of the institution, and not that it was itself noxious; and makes the express reservation that in a future day God will institute Polygamy anew, as the means of raising up a holy seed.

3. In the Commandments which God gave to Moses, concerning the conquest of Midian, they were required to exterminate all the males, but to preserve the women children alive. (Num. xxxi, 15-18, 40, 46, 47.) Now the Commandment requires all, men and women, to be fruitful and multiply. (Gen. i, 28. ix, 1, 7. Lev. xxvi, 9.) By means of war many men in Israel perished, leaving an excess of women. Here was an addition of sixteen thousand women, whom the men of Israel had to take for wives, beyond the excess of women in Israel. Without Polygamy, it was impossible to find husbands for so many.

4. The whole course of the Law given by Moses, assumes

the existence of Polygamy as a legal institution, and provides for the relative rights of the wives and their children, forbidding diminishing the substance of one wife, when he takes another, (Ex. xxi, 10,) or preferring the son of a favourite wife by giving him the double portion that pertains to the firstborn, when he is not firstborn. (Deut. xxi, 15.)

5. In practice God has in many ways sanctioned Polygamy by bestowing great blessings on the parties to such marriages, and upon their posterity. Abraham had two wives; Sarah and Hagar. Though Hagar was only a servant, and never being exalted to the dignity of her husband, is called a concubine; that is, a servant wife; her son Ishmael was highly blessed, and received great and glorious promises as an heir to Abraham. (Gen. xvi, 12. xvii, 20. xxi, 13, 18.)

6. Jacob had four wives; two taking rank with him, and two servant women, who are therefore called concubines. By the Law of Monogamy, which prevails in most Christian countries, Leah alone was his lawful wife. Yet God regarded the sons of Rachel, Zilpha and Bilhah as legitimate sons, and made them all Patriarchs, and heirs to Jacob’s authority and his favour with God. Joseph, Rachel’s son, who, according to the Christian of modern days, was a bastard, God established as the firstborn, and chief of the Patriarchs.

7. In these cases Polygamy has every mark of God’s approbation, both by its being pursued uncondemned by men whose daily walk was guided by the word of God, and by their receiving peculiar and especial blessings which they could not otherwise have attained to.

8. But there was a Law in the days of the Patriarchs, reiterated by Moses and enforced in Israel in later ages, which required that when a man died, leaving a wife and no sons, his next brother should take the wife and raise up seed to his

deceased brother. This requisition was upon him equally, whether married or not. But if unmarried, it became necessary that he should marry a wife to raise up seed to himself, lest in preserving his brother’s name he should blot out his own. (Gen. xxxviii, 7-10. Deut. xxv, 5, 6. Ruth iv, 5-10.)

9. In these cases Polygamy became a positive duty, enforced by direct Commandment, as well as by the great principles of the Law of God. As often as a man obtained an inheritance, and died without posterity, it became a duty that one of his kindred have two wives; one to perpetuate his own name, and the other to perpetuate that of his kinsman.

10. If it is objected that this Law grew out of the Law of Inheritances, the rule will not be changed thereby; for it did not begin with the peculiar policy of Israel as a nation; and the Law of Inheritances, with which it is connected, is perpetual.

11. Nor will it avail to say that in these cases he is not the real husband of the wife of his deceased brother, but only a proxy for the deceased; for it is equally Polygamy during life. But if it be yielded that marriage concerns the everlasting life, quite as much as this mortal, then it follows that every one who is truly married to several successive wives, will, in the immortal life, be a Polygamist.

12. As the reason of the Law in these cases was the necessity of heirs to possess the inheritance, and to keep up the name of him who first received it; there are equal reasons in favour of Polygamy in every case when he who has an inheritance is childless, and his wife barren. And if there is a well grounded fear that the posterity may not survive to future generations, the same reasons have more or less force.

13. Gideon, who seems to have had the favour of God be-

fore all the Judges from Joshua to Samuel, had seventy sons, the children of many wives. (Jud. viii, 30.) In the fragments which have survived to us of the history of those times, it is impossible to know to what extent Polygamy prevailed. Of most men named, we do not know whether they had any wife. But it is remarkable that of all the great and good men of whose families we know anything, a very large majority had more than one wife.

14. In the case of David, God approbates Polygamy on a large scale, in the most distinct and emphatick manner. David, before he came to the Kingdom, had married Michal, the daughter of Saul, (1st Sam. xviii, 27. 2d Sam. iii, 13,) Abigal, the widow of Nabal, (1st Sam. xxv, 42,) and Ahinoam, of Jezreel. (id. xxx, 5. 2d Sam. ii, 2.)

15. Yet with these three wives, on the death of Saul, God gave his wives to David, to take them to his bosom. (2d Sam. xii, 8.) How many wives Saul had, does not clearly appear; but whatever the number was, God gave them to a man who had three already, and declared his willingness to give him more. And David, fully assured of God’s approbation, when he came from Hebron to Jerusalem, took more wives and concubines. (id. v, 13.) In all this, David is nowhere condemned; but in the matter of Uriah’s wife, he is punished with great severity, (id. xi, 3, 4. xii, 10, 11,) be- cause in the mind of God, taking another man’s wife was adultery and robbery, but Polygamy was lawful. God commanded Hosea to marry two wives. (Hosea i, 2. iii.)

16. In the face of such facts, it is doing violence to the word of God, to say that Polygamy was only suffered. It is hardly possible that God should give any further evidence of his approval of it. And there is nothing in all the scriptures to make a different rule, or to alter the force of the argument

in favour of this. The clear intention is to approve of it.

17. The oft repeated assertion, that Polygamy is abolished in the New Testament, has no truth in it. There is not a text found in the book which justifies the assertion. Some have said that the language, "They twain shall be one flesh," forbade the idea of more than one wife. But when it is considered that they are not one flesh in their own persons, but in the persons of their children, who are flesh of the flesh of both father and mother, it will appear that those words are just as applicable to Polygamick as Monogamick families; the true sense of the words being that a man beget children on his wife, and no other woman. In fact, his child, begotten on any other woman, is the flesh of they twain; but God has not joined them, and they sin in joining.

18. The injunction that a Bishop shall be the husband of one wife, (1st Tim. iii, 2,) has been frequently offered as evidence that God disapproved of Polygamy. This is absurd. The rule is not that he shall be the husband of but one, but that he shall be the husband of one.

19. But if we were to so construe the language as to forbid a Bishop having more than one wife, the limitation of the interdict to Bishops would clearly imply that other men might lawfully have more than one wife. Unless the general rule was, that men might have more than one wife, there could be no occasion to say Bishops should not.

20. Indeed, such seems to be the understanding of this text by the most enlightened of those Christians who understand that it limits a Bishop to one wife. For the Christian Missionaries who have instituted Christianity among the Pagan nations of India, receive members into their Churches who have more than one living wife, and allow them to continue to cohabit with them; such members being admitted to all the

privileges of the Church, but not allowed to hold any office.*

21. It is also an unquestioned fact in history that Polygamy existed in the Apostolick Church.** The celibacy of the Clergy and the Monogamy of the laity exist on the same foundation; the authority of the Roman Catholick Church.

22. And it is worthy of observation that Polygamy was nowhere abolished upon the authority of the divine Law, but either by Canon or by Statute. Indeed, it was not really abolished at all. Legitimate marriages of the Clergy were abolished, but they were allowed to keep unmarried female companions, and, in many countries, those who had them, had an extra allowance from the Church for their support.

23. And, notwithstanding the general prohibition of Polygamy, it exists in fact, though not in Law, in all Christian countries. Kings whose marriages are governed by State
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* Now what shall be done in respect to such persons (Polygamists) when they give credible evidence of personal piety, and seek admission into the Christian Church? No case of this kind occurred in my own missionary experience. But some cases have occurred in India, and this difficulty will occur in numerous instances in the progress of the gospel. The subject will also have the consideration and decision of the highest authority, ecclesiastical and judicial, in India and England. My opinion is that the general practice in missions in respect to such cases will be as follows: When any man who has more than one wife to whom he has been legally married, wishes to be admitted into the Christian Church, he will be required to make a free and full statement of his domestick relations. He will be permitted to retain his marital connection with all his wives and his parental relation to all his children, subject to the discipline of the Church for the proper government of his household. Whether he may or may not cohabit with his different wives will be left, I believe, entirely to him and to them, to act according to their views of duty.—[INDIA, ANCIENT AND MODERN. Geographical, Historical, Political, Social, and Religious; with a Particular Account of the State and Prospects of Christianity. By DAVID O. ALLEN, D. D., Missionary of the American Board for twenty five years in India, etc.; pp. 553-4.]

**The Calcutta Missionary Conference. (representing Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Congregationalists) consisting of the Missionaries or the various Societies which have Missionaries in that vicinity, after frequent consultations and much consideration on the subject of Polygamy, as it exists in India, were unanimous in the following conclusion: If a convert before becoming a Christian has married more wives than one, in accordance with the practice of the Jewish and Primitive Christian Churches, he shall be permitted to keep them all; but such a person is not eligible to any office in the Church.—[INDIA, ANCIENT AND MODERN, etc.; p. 601]

reasons, generally use the privilege of taking one or more wives, to whom they are not married strictly according to Law, who are, nevertheless, in no sense under the imputation of unchastity, and numerous citizens followed their example.

24. Not only have Christian writers of the highest rank justified these departures from the rule of Monogamy, but many of them have defended Polygamy, as the preferable and more moral institution. Luther, Melancthon, and the chief authors of the Protestant Reformation, gave Polygamy their express sanction in favour of the Landgrave of Hesse,* and numerous Protestants defended it as scriptural.

25. And if Polygamy does not exist in most Protestant countries now as a legal institution, that fact is attributable to statute, and not to the discipline of the Churches. Very few if any of them have one word in their disciplines, which discountenances Polygamy in any way whatever.

26. And that their testimony is not against Polygamy as a godly institution, but only against violating the law of the State, appears in this: the New Testament allows of divorce only for adultery. (Matt xix, 8, 9.) Yet when a Christian man has obtained a divorce for some other cause, which is no cause by the Law of God, and marries a second wife, the first being by the Law of God just as much his wife as she ever was, they receive him into their communion, just as before.

27. In peaceable times Polygamy would naturally limit itself to a very few cases, because most men desire marriage. But as in all settled communities a considerable number more of women than men desire to marry, there is always a necessity of Polygamy, that they may obtain husbands.
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*His wife was illtempered, and a drunkard, and he laid his case before the Theologians of Wittemburg. By an official determination, they allowed him to take another, though he could not divorce her; but asked him to keep the second marriage secret. Two of Luther’s letters, of an earlier date, allow Polygamy to be scriptural. (Michelet’s Life of Luther.)

28. The excess of women seeking marriage, gives to men an undue advantage in obtaining companions for life. Every man who desires a wife can get one, but many women must fail. As a consequence many women are led to make very unequal matches, in despair of a better opportunity; and others, whose greatest joy it would have been to surround themselves with a numerous posterity, waste their solitary lives on pet birds and kittens, rather than bear children to corrupt and degraded sires; who, had Polygamy existed to a very limited extent, would have been the mothers of eminent sons.

29. Many of the most eminent statesmen and scholars of modern times have died childless, or left only bastard children of degraded women, and slaves; who, had Polygamy been reputable, would, like the Patriarchs, have transmitted their virtues and their greatness to a numerous posterity.

30. And as the lowest order of intellect is most prolifick, unless some means is adopted of increasing the progeny of intellectual men, and securing that progeny from mothers of eminent talents, superiour virtues, and healthy persons, the effort to elevate the masses will be counteracted by the vast disproportion in the posterity of elevated and degraded.

31. That means is Polygamy; which will elevate the human race by making it possible for every virtuous woman, capable of bearing healthy, intelligent children, and exercising such selfcontrol that she can spend her days in love and kindness, with others like herself, to bear children to men possessed of every moral and intellectual excellence; and leaving jealous, envious, and petulent women, who cannot endure that a sister shall be beloved by the same husband, to pair themselves off with those of like disposition, or with such as have inferiour intellects, or bodies wasted upon strange women, or are infirm from hereditary corruptions.

32. Polygamy elevates man, by giving him more blessings in well doing, a higher reward for a faithful and virtuous life, a more numerous posterity to perpetuate his fame, and inherit his honours, and virtuous and intellectual society as the reward only of a well regulated life, and the devotion of superiour intellect to the publick service. It elevates woman, by making her man’s companion, instead of a piece of furniture in the house as some, or a domestick drudge, as others are; by bringing marriage and suitable companionship in the reach of all; and making so many opportunities of a happy settlement in life, that an amiable and virtuous young woman cannot fail of finding an affectionate and worthy husband.

33. Under the Law of Monogamy, it is evident that matches are made with trifling regard to fitness. Women can have next to no choice. But men have little inducement to discriminate, and less to see to the proper ordering of their households, so as to make good wives of suitable women. If a woman, otherwise unexceptionable, is petulent and subject to violent outbursts of temper, her husband, expecting to have no other wife, may indulge her, rather than assume the unpleasant task of applying a correction. In the end his house becomes a bedlam, and his children are reared in the midst of a tempest. It is no wonder that his prayer is, that they be few; nor that many such seek quiet dalliance with unchaste women; or, with blasted hopes, waste their intellects over intoxicating potations.

34. Such a one, believing that a multitude of children were a crown of glory to an old man, and looking to the reward of a long and virtuous life, in a numerous posterity, all established in the affections of the people he served, would feel the necessity of curbing in himself, and in all his house, that illtemper which would render such a reward impossible.

35. It is common to hear Polygamy spoken against, as, at best, licensed lust. With many, indeed with all who make carnal iudulgence the chief end, marriage is no less. But such are always opposed to Polygamy. If such a man seeks variety, Polygamy is too expensive. If he does not, one woman is sufficient; and will at the same time serve either as mistress of his house, or domestick drudge.

36. It is only men who seek congenial companionship in life, and children in their own images to live after them, who are willing to charge themselves with the care of several wives, and the government of great households; subjecting themselves to that rigid mental discipline which is necessary to keep proper order, and cultivate all the social virtues in such a family. The blindest can see that the carnal mind can find easier and cheaper modes of indulgence in unbridled lust.

37. The fact that houses of prostitution are unknown in countries where Polygamy prevails, while they exist everywhere in Monogamick countries, and cannot be suppressed, ought to put to shame those who object to Polygamy on the score of chastity. And, the further fact, that where Polygamy prevails, adultery is exceedingly rare, and in Monogamick countries so common as to scarcely call for a passing remark, should cause such objectors to seal their lips.

38. But however men may declaim against Polygamy in this life, all who attain to the life everlasting, will, in the presence of God, dwell with it forever. For Polygamick Abraham, and Jacob, whose seed we are by the adoption of faith, if we attain to that estate, and Gideon, David, and Solomon, will be there, and their wives, the mothers of Patriarchs, Princes and Prophets with them; who were joined to them in the mortal, and will not be sundered from them in the everlasting life.

CHAPTER XLV:  HIGHWAYS.

Thou shalt not turn aside from relieving thy neighbour.

5. The King may also grant unto others to make highways, and to receive tribute for the use of them, that they may be recompensed for the labour they have done: they shall not

As much as possible, highways and roads ought to be so located, that inheritances will head upon them on both sides, narrow in front, and deep back.

Total—10 sec., 305 words, 1,327 letters.

CHAPTER XLVI:  TITHING.

Thou shalt maintain thy neighbour’s right.

1. Tithing of crops is payable as often as crops are harvested, whether in whole, or in part; and no one has a right to the crop until the tithing is paid, or set out for that purpose; and to use it as his own, would be the same offence as stealing. When set out, he is bound to take care of it till it is duly delivered.

2. The tithing of crops is payable in the same condition in which they are harvested. Cereal grains need not to be thrashed, nor corn to be husked. In general, it is required of those who raise the crops, to deliver the tithing at the place of collection. Those who have no teams are excused removing heavy articles.

3. Tithing of horses and cattle is payable, the tenth animal, at three years old; of sheep and hogs, at one year old; of fowls, generally, at six months old. It matters not wheth-

[1. Lev. xxvii, 30, 32. Deut. xii, 6. xiv, 22. xxvi, 12. 2d Chron. xxxi, 5. Neh. x, 37. xii, 44. Mal, iii, 8. Luke xi, 42. Heb. vii. 5, 6, 8, 9.

er it is superiour or inferiour, the tenth, or the choice of the flock the year which produces the tenth, is the tithing.

4. If animals are sold or marketed before that age, the tithing must be commuted, and then onefifth is added to the value. (Lev. xxvii, 31.) But if any change is made to give a poorer one for tithing, both it and that received in exchange are taken. (id. 33.) These forfeitures are not for the purpose of increasing the tithing, but to prevent frauds.

[1 Gen. xiv, 16, 20.

1. Tithing of butter, cheese, eggs, and numerous mixed productions of agriculture and industry, is payable from time to time, as they are brought to a suitable condition for use.

2. No general rule can be laid down for the payment of tithing on the products of industry, beyond that which requires a tenth. When it can be paid in labour, it is easy to determine the amount, and it ought to be paid every tenth working day, or the tithing for a quarter year at one time, early in the quarter. A tenth of all is due in some form.

When increase is taken, it shall be onefifth the tithing, (Lev, xxvii, 31,) and the charges of the officer for collecting the same.

Total—12 sec., 493 words. 2,089 letters.

Tithing should be settled quarterly, at the Solstices, and Equinoxes, and the settlement recorded. Remittances of tithing are made to the needy liberally; but they are not allowed to withhold, because in want, till remitted.

CHAPTER XLVII:  PAYMENT OF DEBTS.

Thou shalt do no injustice to thy neighbour.

3. But if thy neighbour seek to defraud thee, or to do thee violence, or if he have

Total—6 sec., 329 words, 1,349 letters.

Grand total—47 ch., 332 sec., 16,865 words, 71,538 letters.

The object of the Law is not so much to collect debts of the poor; for if honest, they will pay willingly as fast as they are able; and if dishonest, ought not to be trusted; but of the rich, whom others trust of necessity, and do not always find honest; also, to redress frauds and trespasses.