Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-10-13

| tNlTu degree ETtt MdhoI, dfn WIN MS
great wisdom he was the greatest po-
! lygamst OF all times At one time he
had 200 wives and 800 concubines. And
as long as solomon married his plural
| wives from among the children OF Is
rael he did not dlsplease the Lord, and
| II was not til Solomon went TO other
\ tribes or nations for wives that God
was displeased. In chapter xi, IT,; But
| King Solomon loved many strange
women. together with the daughter OF
| Pharaoh; women OF the Moabtes,
| Ammontes, Edomites Zidonians, and
| Hittites, OF tho nations concerning
which the Lord said unto the children
/ OF Israel, Ye shall not go IN to them;
neither shall they come In unto you,
/ for surely they will turn away your
| hearts after other gods"
| David, Solomons father. had many
| wives, all of which were from among
the nations or tribes which We're not
| dlspleasing 10 God. In verse God
said And Solomon did evil In the
| sight of the Lord, and went not fully
after the Lord as did David, his father"
| was taught from my infancy in
| Methodist Sunday schools and the
] Methodist pulpits that the chief end OF
man was to glority God and to seek
first the kingdom OF heaven and to
eschew anything that would hinder me
from going to glory. and 70 take heed
10 the sayings Of Christ. And learned
| from Christs sayings that polygamy
would not hinder a person from going
! to heaven, for Christ said In Luke xiii,
| IS: There shall be weeping and gnash-
| Ing OF teeth when We shall see Abraham
and Isaac. and Jacob and all the proph-
cts In the kingdom Of God, and you
| yourselves thrust out" And knowing
that Abraham, Jacob, David and
Solomon of the prophets were polygam-
lists, that their being polygamlsts did
not debar them from heaven. | Will
next Introduce tho Rev. William Brown,
NJ. D., VINO published Browns his.
| tory Of Missouri In America in 1915.
which was enlarged and republlshed In
| 1924. and again enlarged and repub-
lished In England In 1856.
In vol. 8, page 56i,he says In Deute-
ronomy, xvii, IL, we find tho following
law relative to the king whom the peo-
| pie OF Israel might set over them
Neither shall he multiply wives unto
| himself, that his heart turn not away"
This surely cannot be understood to
| mean that he was TO restrict himself 10
one wife; II would be strange and un-
accountable way OF expressing that
| idea. The plain meaning OF II Is that
he was not 10 have many wives, but It
| evidently allowed him to take more
than one. In correspondence with this,
we find the following statement in III
| Chron., xiv, 2, 3, relative TO Joash, king
| OF judah: and Joash did that which
was right in the sight Of the Lord all
| the days OF Jehods tne priest. and
Jehoiada took for him two wives, and
he begat sons and daughters" In
| reading this II Is natural and reason
able TO conclude that, IN marrying two
| wives "Joash did that which was right
| In the sight OF the Lord" The two state
| ments stand In such close connection
| with each other, on page 1855 Mr.. Brown
| Is very emphatic In his statements,
| that where a man has several wives, on
| becoming a Christian he shall keep
| them all and turn none away, he says:
| Under the plea OF previous unlawful
ness, supported by no just reasoning
| and inoculated by no misapplied Scrip
| lures, helpless women, legally united
| to men sacredly engaged to love sup
| port and protect them, are TO be eject
| ed from home, from the honors and
comforts of wifedom and maternity,
| exposed TO fearful temptations, cruel
| privation and self-denial, lgnominy and
solitariness suffering and disruption OF
! all the sweet ties of domestic inter-
| course and affection, the education of
| the children is TO he neglected, their
| fllial attachments blightod. and a re-
| ward held out TO the purest acts OF
| injustice. of selfish cruelty, and lmpious
| hypocricy, on the part OF husbands
and fathers.
Let no Christian, after he has been
admitted into the Christian church.
add unto his wives. or support the
| practise Of polygamy. however usual
| In the nation or country, But II al
| ready polygamist, let him live as the
| ancient patriarchs did, I'm holy and
| faithful fufilment of all the duties of
marriage, alike with all his wives le-
gally such. let him not Tor moment
allow himself TO entertain the mon
strous and unnatural purpose of injur-
ing those he loved and swore to love
forever. who have lain on his bosom,
become the mother of his children. the
partner OF his joys aud sorrows. by put
ting them away for no original or at
ter fault of theirs upon his becoming
a Christian"
There are few things connected with
the conduct of missions which involve
more important temporal conso-
quences, and are embarrassed with
greater difficulties, than the right
marriage tie.
Not only the question OF marriage
but polygamy and divorce. Where
cases Of this kind occur there Is often
found want of any well understood
and generally received principles: and
III an injurious manner, disturbing the
giavest and most sacred relations which
obtain among mankind.
We cannot therefore, but view with
satisfaction any attempt 10 lay down
well-consldered principles on the sub
iect, so far as they can be ascertained
from scripture and sound reason.
In 1894 the conference Of mission.
aries of various denominations in CAL
cutta, including those OF the Baptist,
the London, and the church mission
airy societies OF the church Of Scotland
and the American Presbyterian board.
after having had the whole subject
frequently under discussion and after
much and serious deliberation, unani-
nlously agreed on tho following pro.
positions:
II convert before becoming
Christian, has married more wives
than one, IN accordance with the prac.
tisc of the Jewish and primitive Chris
tian churches, he shall be permitted
to keep them all; but such a person
Is not eligible 10 any office In the
church. In no other case is polygamy
to be tolerated among the Christians"
II Is not unworthy Of mention that
the Moravians, at least In the Danish
West India Islands, and the Baptist
missionaries at Serampur, took pre-
cisely the same view as the Calcutta
missionaries See Calcutta Christian
Observer. vol A. page 20. vol /, page
2iS.
This rule has been generally adopt
ed by nearly all Christian missions
since 1894 down To the present time.
In 1855 Or. Colenso IN South Africa
adopted II and again in 1857 II was
adopted by the South African mis-
slons. See Marshalrs History OF Mis-
sions.
II was also adopted IN 1896 at Lud-
hiana, india. by vote Of SO 10 10 at a
regular meeting OF the Presbyterian