Sacred-texts Mormonism Index Previous Next    In the old days of
Mormonism-and as late as the anti-polygamous manifesto of
1890-the whole aim and effort of the Church was to exalt and
sanctify and make pure the practice of plural marriage by means
of the community's respect and the reverences of religion. The
doctrine of polygamy was taught as a revealed mystery of faith.
It was accepted as a sacrament ordained by God for the salvation
of mankind. The most important families in the Church dignified
it by their participation, and were in turn dignified by the
Church's approval and by the wealth and power that followed
approval. The inevitable mental sufferings of the plural wives
were endured by them as part of an earthly self-immolation
required by God, for which they should be rewarded in eternity.
The very necessities of their situation compelled them to exact
and cherish a super-reverence for the doctrine of plural
marriage-since the only way a mother could justify herself to
her children was by teaching,