The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-02-13
BY Rev. W. Il. Bagby of the Central
Christian Church.
ORIGINAL LAW OF LAW
PRECEDENT TO OUTWEIGH ALL
SUBSEQUENT EXAMPLES.
Monogamy Was to Be the Divine Or
der of Marriage For All Time
By Citing This Precedent, Christ
Silenced the Pharisees-What the
New Testament Says.

Rev. w. H. Bagby addressed a
large congregation at the Central
Christian church yesterday, his theme
being polygamy.
Rev. Bagby said in part:
For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall cleave
to his wife; and the twain shall be
one flesh Matt. xix, 5.
The only God-ordained and Christ
sanctioned order of marriage is monog-
amy. All the reasons that could ever
possibly exist, for polygamy, existed
at the time when God ordained and in
Stituted monogamic marriage. The
| whole world was to be peopled, and
there was but one man to people it.
| II spirits are eternal, and if they
clamor for bodies, there was certainly
| a greater demand for bodies then than
has ever been known since, only two,
at that time, having been crowded
with them. He did it because that
was to be the divine order of marriage
for all time to come. 1t was a prece-
dent that was to outweigh all Subse
! quent examples and enactments. By
! citing this precedent Christ Silenced
! the PhariseeS on the subject of divorce.
| They asked, Why then did Moses
command to give her bill of divorce
| ment, and TO put her away? He saith
unto them, Moses for the hardness of
your hearts suffered you to put away
your wives; but from the beginning it
hath not keen so.' Matt. xix, rs. If
the marriage of the beginning" can
set aside the law of Moses, why does
it not set aside the example of even
Abraham? Is it not reasonable as
sumption that God permitted polygamy
for the same reason that he permitted
divorce, on account of their hardness
OF. heart, the degeneracy of the age?
1t is most significant fact that,
up to the time of the flood, polygamy
was not practiced by the servants of
God. 1t is true we find Lamech, the
seventh from Adam among the des-
cendantS of Cain, with two wives and
the blood of his fellOw-man on his
hands; but this man must net be con-
founded with the Lamech who was
the descendant of Seth and the father
of Noah. Even Cain was monogram
list. 1t is worthy Of note also, that
Noah and his three sons, all the men
saved from the flood, were monogram
lists.
From this we may conclude that
polygamy was enc of the results of
the degeneracy of the race. 1t was
an evil practice that fastened itself
upon the people when they departed
from God and went down into the
depths of depravity. 1t was a practice
that 1t took ages to acquire. Such prac-
tees are not shaken off in a day. 1t
takes a long, long time to cure the
world of a bad habit. This accounts
for the presence of pOlygamy among
the people while God was leading them
up out of the depths of sin and degra-
dation into which the race had des-
cended. The Christian church has not |
yet freed itself from the Judaism that |
chung TO Luther throughout his life. |
He was a reformer not because of !
them, but in spite of them. So the race, |
headed by Abraham, marched slowly |
back toward God, with many spot |
upon its garments from contact with |
former conditions. Abraham was |
called out of the very heart of pagan
ism. His tent was pitched in the midst /
Of it even in the land of Canaan. In !
view of Peters lapses from loyalty to |
his divine master, is it any wonder +!
that Abraham, envirOned as all his |
life he was, should make the mistake
he did in going into polygamy. 1t is
not strange that God bore with this
sin of Abraham. He is always toler-
ant when tendencies are right. He
was using the best means the age af-
forded to accomplish the end he had in
view, viz: the reclamation of the race.
Abraham was the best representative
of a degenerate race. God bore with
his sins because he was a representa-
tive Of such a race and because he
could be made the father of a better
people. 1t was the patriotism and not
the moral purity of George Washing
ton that made him the fater of his
country. So it was the faith of
Abraham and not his faultIess life that
made him the father of the faithful
It took the nation he founded a long
time to outgrow this relic of bar
barism. 1t was not until they had
drained the bitter cup to it's very dregs
that the people purged themselves of
this heathenish practice and returned
forever to the primitive order of mar
riage, which is the divine order.
During the stay Of Israel in Egypt
died out from among them.
This was due in part, doubtless, to the
influence of the example of Joseph, who
was a monogamist; but their enslaved
condition had most to do with it, They
were not able to maintain harems, even
if they had been allowed to do so by
king who was jealous of their rapid
growth in numbers. There was no re-
turn to the practice by the people until
they were led into it by their volup-
tuous kings, who led them down into
heathenism instead of UP to God. That
it was to this in part ait least that they
attributed the heavy punishment that
had been inflicted upon them of the
Lord is evidenced by the fact that,
along with idolatry, it was abandoned
forever. If any Importance had been
attached by them to the example of
Abraham, Jacob, Saul. David and Solo
non, they would have continued the
practice. They had learned the very
lesson that an act is not
light simply because some man per-
'orms it. Christ did not make things {
light by doing them. He did them be-
,ause they were right. Whether a