No better evidence of the blighting, searing effect of this gross social
crime could be found than the fact that not only is polygamy coming
to be winked at as something not so very bad after all, but men from
whom we have a right to expect something better are coming forward in
its defense.
We have just been perusing a work written for the express purpose of
justifying and advocating polygamy, which was written by an evangelical
clergyman. He was evidently not willing to own his work, however, since
his name is carefully excluded from the title-page, and his publisher
put under an oath of secrecy. The arguments which he makes in favor
of polygamy are chiefly the following:--
1. That it is approved by the Bible.
2. That a robust man requires more than one woman to satisfy his sexual
demands.
3. That there are more women than men; and since every woman has a right
to have a husband, the only way all can be supplied is to allow several
women, two or more, according to the capacity of the man, or as they
can agree, to form a marriage partnership with one man.
4. That the great men of all ages have been polygamists in fact, if
not by open profession.
5. That monogamy is a relic of the paganism of the ancient Greeks and
Romans, with whom it originated.
6. That it is the only proper and effective cure for the "social evil,"
and all its attendant vices and dire diseases.
As this work has had quite a circulation, bearing the imprint of a
well-known Boston publisher, and has not received any answer that we
are aware of, we deem it worth while to give these arguments, which
are very strongly presented, at least a brief passing notice. We will
consider them in the order in which we have stated them.
1. We deny most emphatically the assertion that polygamy is either
taught or approved by the Bible. It was tolerated in a people who had
long been in the darkness of Egyptian bondage, but never approved.
Indeed, the inspired writers have evidently taken pains to give
numerous examples of the evils growing out of that violation of the
law of God and Nature.
2. The second argument is based upon the asserted fact that man
naturally possesses stronger sexual demands than woman; that these
demands are imperative; and that it is not only impossible, but in the
highest degree injurious, to restrain them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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