As a polygamist, David, the anointed King and Prophet of Israel, was called a man after God's own heart; and God Himself expressly declares, by the mouth of Nathan the Prophet, that he gave him his wives.
While, as an adulterer with the wife of Uriah, and the murderer of her husband, he is reproved by the word of the Lord; and, although he sorely repented, yet the child of his adultery died; and his punishment was, that the sword should not depart from his house; that his wives should be taken from him and given to another; and his own salvation was suspended for ages—the Apostle Peter himself declaring, in his day, that the patriarch, David, had not yet ascended into Heaven.
As polygamists, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are approved and commended by Jesus Christ, who expressly declares that, "many shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south; and shall set down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God." While, at the same time, he declares that, "those wicked and adulterous persons, who, in that age, considered themselves the children of the kingdom, should be thrust out." I sincerely hope my mistaken friends here will learn, ere that eventful day, to distinguish between a house of Polygamy and a crowd of adulterers; but they might by mistake consider the kingdom of God a house of ill fame, and go with the wrong crowd.
Sir, the Apostle Paul sets forth Abraham, the polygamist, as the father of the faithful; worthy of all imitation, as heir of the eternal covenants and promises; in whose seed all nations shall be blessed. He shows, most clearly, that the gospel introduces us into the family of polygamists; makes us children of Abraham, and heirs to the same covenants.
On the other hand, this same Apostle declares that adulterers and fornicators shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Again, sir, John the Revelator describes the eternal Jerusalem of Heaven, the Royal City of our God, as peopled and governed by the great family of polygamists; which, in its lineage, includes Jesus and the holy prophets and apostles of all ages. The pearly gates are embellished with the names of twelve polygamists, the sons of four women by one man.
While, on the other hand, this same John expressly declares, that the place for all liars, sorcerers, whoremongers and adulterers is outside; and that there shall in no wise enter into the city anything that defileth or maketh a lie.
Now to come to Utah. There, sir, the law of God is honored ; by it we determine what is virtue and what is vice. Here, sir, if nowhere else in Christendom, our virtuous wives and children, given us by the law of God, are our glory; our crown of rejoicing; our kingdom in embryo, big with thrones of power and immortality. There, sir, the local administration carries out the principles of the glorious Constitution and laws of our common country—even to the protection of prophets and apostles, who have dared to restore the Laws of God, and to organize and regulate their household by the same. And—
Sir, I have yet to learn by what constitutional or moral right a local state sovereignty makes a crime of that which, rightly conducted, never has been recognized as a crime by God, or angels, prophets or apostles, or even by the Saviour of the world.
I have yet to learn by what right a State of this Union dooms a man to prison for a conscientious act, in embracing the everlasting covenant, made with Abraham and the fathers; while, at the same time, a fornicator, who by the law of God, is worthy of death , runs at large, or, at most, pays a fine for his damnable deeds of seduction, and then is at liberty to repeat them, while his purse will hold out to pay the repeated fines and damages.