SECTION CIX.—ON MARRIAGE.
Marriage should be celebrated with prayer and thanksgiving; and at the solemnization, the persons to be married standing together, the man on the right, and the woman on the left, shall be addressed by the person officiating, as he shall be directed by the Holy Spirit; and if there shall be no legal objections, he shall say, calling each by their names: You both mutually agree to be each other's companion, husband and wife; observing the legal rights belonging to this condition; that is, keeping yourself wholly for each other, and from all others, during your lives. And when they shall have answered "yes," he shall pronounce them "Husband and wife in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by virtue of the laws of the country, and authority vested in him:" saying, "May God add his blessing, and keep you to fulfil your covenants from henceforth and forever. Amen."
The clerk of every church should keep a record of all marriages solemnized in his branch.
All legal contracts of marriages made before a person is baptised into this church should be held sacred and fulfilled. Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in cases of death, when either is at liberty to marry again. It is not right to persuade a woman to be baptized contrary to the will of her husband, neither is it lawful to influence her to leave her husband. All children are bound by law to obey their parents; and to influence them to embrace any religious faith, or be baptized, or leave their parents without their consent, is unlawful and unjust. We believe that husband, parents, and masters, who exercise control over their wives, children, and servants, and prevent them from embracing the truth, will have to answer for that sin.
SECTION CX.—ON GOVERNMENTS AND LAWS IN GENERAL.
We believe that governments were instituted of God, for the benefit of man, and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, either in making laws or administering them for the good and safety of Society. We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed, and held inviolate, as will secure to each individual the FREE exercise of CONSCIENCE, the RIGHT and control of PROPERTY, and the protection of life.
We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government; whereby one religious society is fostered, and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members as citizens denied. We do not believe that any religious society has authority to try men on the right of property or life, to take from them this world's goods, or put them in jeopardy either of life or limb, neither to inflict any physical punishment upon them: they can only excommunicate them from their society, and withdraw from their fellowship.
We believe that religion is instituted of God, and that men are amenable to him, and to him only, for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others. We do not believe that human law has a right to interfere in prescribing rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms for public or private devotion. We believe that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control conscience; should punish guilt, but never suppress the liberty of the soul.
THE BOOK OF DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS.—Edition printed by John Taylor, at Nauvoo, Illinois, 1844; pp. 440—443.