[Footnote E: Doc. and Cov. 132:19.]
It must be remembered, however, that these promises can be claimed only on the evidence of unimpeachable faithfulness. "The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost," says the Lord in one part of the revelation on marriage, "which shall not be forgiven in the world, nor out of the world, is in that ye commit murder, wherein ye shed innocent blood, and assent unto my death, after ye have received my new and everlasting covenant, saith the Lord God; and he that abideth not this law, can in no wise enter into my glory, but shall be damned, saith the Lord."[F]
[Footnote F: Doc. and Cov. 132:27.]
By the word of the Lord Himself, then, murder is placed as the most awful crime that a man who has entered into this covenant can commit. And coming close after it is the sin of infidelity to the marriage covenant. The new and everlasting covenant prescribes a perfectly moral and faithful relationship in marriage. The Lord defines the sin of adultery, and condemns it. Nor does He allow in the least a double standard of morality. The new and everlasting order of marriage prescribes purity of the home, and sacred fidelity to the marriage covenant. The great promises of future glory can be realized only through a faithful observance of the new and everlasting covenant.
No more sublime principle has ever been given to man than this of the sanctity and eternity of the marriage contract. Through it, the home becomes more than ever the center of community life. The father and the mother, if they continue faithful, are bound together by everlasting ties. And their children, too, become theirs throughout eternity. Death can have no fears for them. The grave has lost its victory. For they know they shall rise again from death and the grave; and then they shall mingle again as father and mother and children, and the relations so happily begun here will be continued forever there. In such a home may be found true happiness. But to gain such happiness, both parties to the marriage contract must have faith in the divine ordinance; it must be performed by the authority of the priesthood of God. If the ordinance be not so performed, neither the man nor the woman can attain the fulness of the glory of God. "In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees," we read in the revelation numbered section 131; "and in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the Priesthood (meaning the New and Everlasting Covenant of marriage)."[G]
[Footnote G: Doc. and Cov. 131:1, 2.]
It will be observed, further, that the revelation on marriage contemplates a plurality of wives. The practice of plural marriage brought bitter persecution upon the Church, however. The Congress of the United States took action against the practice and demanded that it cease. Accordingly every effort has been put forth, and that strenuously, to suppress plural marriages. The solemnization of plural marriage in the Church has been entirely discontinued. The Lord has said that when we strive to do His will and our enemies prevent us, He will accept our endeavor.
Meanwhile, the basic principle of the sanctity and eternity of the marriage covenant remains unimpugned. It is still fundamental in the social organization of the Church. While the world goes on marrying and divorcing, and committing a thousand violations of the laws of both God and man, the children of the Latter-day Saints are born in purity, reared in holiness, and trained in the fear of God. They are taught that marriage is a sacred relationship; that the ordinance of uniting two in marriage should be performed in a sacred place with the sanction and by the authority of Almighty God; that then the marriage relationship does not end with this life, but continues through the countless ages yet unborn. How can children so reared look with the least degree of favor upon the social evil—divorce? How can they wink at even the mildest forms of immorality and vice so common in the world today? Their watchword is evermore:
"For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance."[H]
[Footnote H: Doc. and Cov. 1:31.]