Postcard photo of Prince Manga Bell seated for portrait with four women nearby, possibly late-19th century style
Prince Manga Bell and favorite wives

Polygamy is the custom or condition of having multiple marriage partners. The word polygamy comes from the Greek word poly, which means many, and the Greek word gamos, which means marriage or union.

Sourced

  • In pious times, ere priest-craft did begin,
    Before polygamy was made a sin;
    When man, on many, multipli'd his kind,
    Ere one to one was cursedly confin'd:
    When Nature prompted, and no Law deni'd
    Promiscuous use of concubine and bride;
    Then, Israel's monarch, after Heaven's own heart,
    His vigorous warmth did variously impart
    To wives and slaves: and, wide as his command,
    Scatter'd his Maker's image through the land.
  • In the reign of James the Second,
    It was generally reckoned
    As a rather serious crime
    To marry two wives at a time.
  • So then if, while her husband is living she marries another man, she shall be called an adulteress, but if her husband has died, she is free from that law, so that she is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
    • Romans Chapter 7 v 3
  • We have laws in states, like the one at the Supreme Court right now, that has sodomy laws and they were there for a purpose. Because, again, I would argue, they undermine the basic tenets of our society and the family. And if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does.
  • I will now say, not only to our delegate to Congress, but to the Elders who leave the body of the Church, that he thought that all the cats and kittens were let out of the bag when brother Pratt went back last fall, and published the Revelation concerning the plurality of wives: it was thought there was no other cat to let out. But allow me to tell you, Elders of Israel, and delegates to Congress, you may expect an eternity of cats, that have not yet escaped from the bag. Bless your souls, there is no end to them, for if there is not one thing, there will always be another.
  • This is the reason why the doctrine of plurality of wives was revealed, that the noble spirits who are waiting for tabernacles might be brought forth
  • [I]f you have in your hearts to say…”we will not, therefore, be polygamists lest we should fail in obtaining some earthly honor, character and office, etc,"-the man that has that in his heart, and will continue to persist in pursuing that policy, will come short of dwelling in the presence of the Father and the Son, in celestial glory. The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy. Others attain unto a glory and may even be permitted to come into the presence of the Father and the Son; but they cannot reign as kings in glory, because they had blessing offered unto them, and they refused to accept them. The Lord gave a revelation through Joseph Smith, His servant; and we have believed and practiced it.
  • Just ask yourselves, historians, when was monogamy introduced on to the face of the earth? When those buccaneers, who settled on the peninsula where Rome now stands, could not steal women enough to have two or three apiece, they passed a law that a man should have but one woman. And this started monogamy and the downfall of the plurality system. In the days of Jesus, Rome, having dominion over Jerusalem, they carried out the doctrine more or less. This was the rise, start and foundation of the doctrine of monogamy; and never till then was there a law passed, that we have any knowledge of, that a man should have but one wife.
  • [W]e shall continue to do it until God tell us to stop, or until we pass into sin and iniquity, which will never be.
  • "A man may marry many wives, for Rabba saith it in lawful to do so, if he can provide for them. Nevertheless, the wise men have given good advice, that a man should not marry more than four wives."
    • Talmud, (Arbah. Turim. Ev. Hazzer, 1.) quoted from T.P. Hughes, Dictionary of Islam

See also

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