We have just been perusing a work written for the express purpose of justifying and advocating polygamy, which was written by an evangelical clergyman. He was evidently not willing to own his work, however, since his name is carefully excluded from the title-page, and his publisher put under an oath of secrecy. The arguments which he makes in favor of polygamy are chiefly the following:—
1. That it is approved by the Bible.
2. That a robust man requires more than one woman to satisfy his sexual demands.
3. That there are more women than men; and since every woman has a right to have a husband, the only way all can be supplied is to allow several women, two or more, according to the capacity of the man, or as they can agree, to form a marriage partnership with one man.
4. That the great men of all ages have been polygamists in fact, if not by open profession.
5. That monogamy is a relic of the paganism of the ancient Greeks and Romans, with whom it originated.
6. That it is the only proper and effective cure for the "social evil," and all its attendant vices and dire diseases.
As this work has had quite a circulation, bearing the imprint of a well-known Boston publisher, and has not received any answer that we are aware of, we deem it worth while to give these arguments, which are very strongly presented, at least a brief passing notice. We will consider them in the order in which we have stated them.
1. We deny most emphatically the assertion that polygamy is either taught or approved by the Bible. It was tolerated in a people who had long been in the darkness of Egyptian bondage, but never approved. Indeed, the inspired writers have evidently taken pains to give numerous examples of the evils growing out of that violation of the law of God and Nature.
2. The second argument is based upon the asserted fact that man naturally possesses stronger sexual demands than woman; that these demands are imperative; and that it is not only impossible, but in the highest degree injurious, to restrain them.