chapter of the work is found a warning to the Nephites:

"But the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For this people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the Scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms because of the things that were written concerning David and Solomon, his son. They, truly, had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. Wherefore, hearken unto the word of the Lord, for there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife, and concubines he shall have. none; for I, the Lord God, delighteth in the chastity of woman."

With the Mormons, as with other mortals, even pro phecies and revelations are controlled or altered by circumstances; so, while at Nauvoo, the increase of beautiful young women so inspired Joseph, Brigham, and other saints, that a new revelation was deemed necessary. The prophet sought it and it came, fully denying the injunction in the Book of Mormon, and going back to the harems of "the servants of the Lord" for a justification of concubinage and incest. Joseph received the new revelation at Nauvoo, on the 12th of July, 1843; and in the Deseret News extra, of the 14th of September, 1852, at Salt Lake City, it was first publicly proclaimed to the "people;" the bishops and elders having first selected the fairest of their flocks for their own use.

The "revelation" in part reads:

"Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph, that nasmuch as you have inquired at my hands to know wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David, and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines; behold and lo, I am the Lord, and will answer thee as touching this matter."

"

"And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood, if any man espouse a virgin and desires to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second and they are virgins and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery, for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to none else: and if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him and are given unto him; therefore is he justified. They are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men, for herein is the work of my Father continued that he may be glorified."

Emma Smith, the wife of Joseph, is commanded, under dire penalties from the Lord, to receive kindly to her bosom all the wives that Joseph may have given unto him, and the Mormon women generally are advised of God's impending wrath if they reject the wifeofferings he gives to his saints; and to fully provide against emergencies and be ready for any change that may be desirable, the spirit tells the prophet of further revelations, concluding:

"And now, as pertaining unto this law, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will reveal more unto you hereafter; therefore, let this suffice for the present. Behold, I am Alpha and Omega. Amen!"

In the "new revelation," provision is made for spiritual wives" for the saints, so that the "apostles,” elders, and others of the church may seal unto themselves the wives of others as spiritual wives for eternity; so that in the land where the "streets are paved with gold" and Mormons are gods, the wife is not necessarily obliged to associate with her poor husband of earth, but can select her company while here, provided she

avoid the "lascivious men of California" and choose a faithful saint. Virgins also can, before marriage, select their heavenly mate by sealing on earth.

On the first mention of the new doctrine of polygamy, in 1843, it caused great commotion, and many rebelled against it. A few elders attempted to promulgate the revelation, but so fierce was the opposition that, while Joseph and a few of his leaders held a monopoly of the "new law," he made public proclamation against it in the church paper, the Times and Seasons, published at Nauvoo, as follows:

NOTICE.

As we have lately been credibly informed that an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by the name of Hiram Brown, has been preaching polygamy and other false and corrupt doctrines in the county of Lapeer and State of Michigan,

This is to notify him and the church in general that he has been cut off from the church for his iniquity, and he is further notified to appear at the special conference on the 6th of April next, to make answer to these charges.

JOSEPH SMITH,

HYRUM SMITH, Presidents of the Church.

This proclamation satisfied the "common people," and suited particularly the European missionaries, who took good care to give it publicity. Meantime, Young nd his elders had stocked their harems with the choice doves of their flocks.

Mary Ann Angell Young, the second wife of Brig ham, (he was a widower with two children when he joined the church,) who now lives in separate quarters at Salt Lake City, soon found herself surrounded by the increasing wives of her husband, and this too, while