Latter-Days has pronounced the blessings of
Abraham on the heads of the Mormons. And
what did Abraham do to found his mighty kingdom?
Had he to found it with a single wife?
No. He had Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah, who
bore him a considerable number of children.

"There are two reasons for the saints having
a plurality of wives. The first is, that they may
inherit the promises made to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob—that they may have an innumerable
posterity. The second is, that the chosen people
may have a faithful posterity, when all nations
that have become corrupt shall be destroyed.
The saints are the salt of the earth. It is with
them that earthly tabernacles, through legitimate
parentage, will be chosen by the noble
spirits who are still awaiting in heaven the
moment of their descent to earth. If they have
been retained so long on high, it was not to let
them enter the bodies of Hottentots, negroes,
idolators, or false Christrians. Imitate the
patriarchs, therefore, and take unto you several
wives."

Brigham Young, who followed Orson, reminded
his hearers of the excellence of Joseph Smith's
doctrine and of the powerlessness of the Gentiles
to meet it by serious argument. "The doctrine
of which Brother Orson Pratt has been speaking
to you was made the subject of a revelation
previously to the death of Joseph Smith. It is in
opposition to a feeble minority of the dwellers
on earth; but our people believed in it several
years ago, although it was not practised by the
elders. The original copy of the revelation is
burnt. W. Clayton wrote it from the mouth of
the prophet. It happened to be in the possession
of Bishop Whitney, who obtained from
Joseph the privilege of copying it. Sister Emma
(the prophet's wife, who did not at all like
polygamy) burnt the original. I tell you all
that, because those who knew of the revelation
suppose that it no longer exists. I prophesy to
you that the principle of polygamy will make its
way; that it will triumph over the prejudices
and the priestcraft of the day: that it will be
embraced by the most intelligent men in the
world as one of the best doctrines that has ever
been proclaimed to any people. The world has
long known—it was known during his lifetime
—that Joseph had more than one wife. One of
the senators of the Federal Congress was
perfectly aware of it, and was not the less our
friend on that account. He even said that if the
principle were not adopted by the United States,
the extreme limit of human life there would not
exceed thirty years. We could not proclaim
this principle some years ago; everything must
come in its own time. At present, I am
prepared to proclaim it. This revelation has been
in my power for several years. And who knew of
it? Nobody except those who ought to know
it. I have a patent lock on my secretary, and
nothing comes out of it which ought not to
come out."

Immediately after Brigham's speech, Elder
Thomas Bullock, the secretary of the Church,
read, in the presence of the principal elders of
Israel, whose number exceeded two thousand,
the REVELATION ON POLYGAMY, received by
Joseph Smith, at Nauvoo, the 12th of July,
1843, proclaimed the 20th of August, 1852,
and published on the 14th of September, 1852,
in the Deseret News. It is sufficient to mention
here of this precious production that it is
an offensive parody of Scripture phraseology,
and that its burden is, "Go then, and do the
works of Abraham."

"I have forty-eight children," said a Mormon
prophet publicly in Brother Bertrand's hearing;
"and I have reason to hope that Heaven will
vouchsafe me a good many more. Before a
hundred years, my direct descendants will exceed in
number the population of the State of New
York, which consists of four million souls."If,
in less than a century, the posterity of a single
Mormon patriarch is to exceed four millions,
what, at the same epoch, will be the total population
of Mormonia? Their hope is to conquer
the whole American continent, from Cape Horn
to Kotzebue's Sound, by overrunning it in
countless hosts. America is their Promised
Land, of which the first was only the symbol.
And this is why they have received the mission
and the ordinances necessary for peopling
rapidly, very rapidly, the Sion of the Latter Days.
Brother Bertrand may well assert that the question
of a plurality of wives is one of extreme
gravity!

Every marriageable girl in Utah has the right
to dispose of her hand freely, and to offer it to
the man of her choice. They exercise the right
with a maturity of reason which would astonish
many a Parisian girl. The regular practice of
prayer and charity, assiduity and skill in work,
are generally the surest means of attracting their
attention. Brother Bertrand himself, without
the slightest vanity, can cite his own case as an
instance to the purpose. During his sojourn in
Utah, he had passed the first blush of youth,
and he claims not the slightest relationship with
the Apollo Belvedere. Well! If he had accepted
all the women, young and old, pretty
and ugly, who came and popped the question to
him in his hermitage, he would now be the
husband of more wives than Brigham Young
himself. This for the edification of bachelors
who, like Brother Bertrand, pretend only to
purely moral beauty.

We Mormons have, he tells us, two forms of
marriage. The rite of ordinary marriage is
similar to that followed by most Protestant sects.
In polygamous marriages, things pass thus. Is
one of our people already married, and does he
wish to marry a fresh wife? He first applies to
the young lady's parents or guardians. It he
obtains their consent, he then makes direct
application to the bride, who has always the right to
accept or refuse him. If the lady prove agreeable,
he goes and asks his bishop for a certificate
that he is a faithful member of the Church. He
presents his certificate at the presidential office,
where he is informed of the day and the hour
fixed for his wedding. At the appointed time,
he presents himself at the presidence, with his