Mormon Marriage.
The Mormon paper, The Seer, gives the fol-lowing account of the formalities observed when a Saint espouses supplementary wives, after he already has one of those companions:
In this Church of Latter Day Saints every man is strictly limited to one wife, unless the Lord, through the President and Prophet of the Church, gives a revelation permitting him to take more. Without such a revela-tion it would be sinful, according to the Book of Mormon, which this Church are required to obey. Hence, the Book of Mormon is somewhat more strict than the Bi-ble; for there is nothing in the Bible that limits man-kind to one wife, but the Book of Mormon does abso-lutely forbid a man to have more than one wife, unless God shall command otherwise.
No man in Utah, who already has a wife, and who may desire to obtain another, has any right to make any propositions of marriage to a lady until he has consulted the President over the whole Church, and through him obtains a revelation from God, as to whether it would be pleasing; in His sight. If he is forbidden by revelation, that ends the matter; if, by revelation, the privilege is granted, he still has no right to consult the feelings of the young lady until he has obtained the approbation of her parents, provided they are living in Utah; if their consent cannot be obtained, this also ends the matter. But if the parents or guardians freely give their consent, then he may make propositions of marriage to the young lady; if she refuse these propositions, this also ends the matter; but if she accept, a day is generally set apart by the parties for the marriage ceremony to be celebrated. It is nece-ssary to state that, before any man takes the least step toward getting another wife, it is his duty to consult the feelings of the wife which he already has, and obtain her consent, as recorded in the twenty-fourth paragraph of the revelation, published in the first No. of The Seer.
When the day set apart for the solemnization of the marriage ceremony has arrived, the bridegroom and his wife, and also the bride, together with their relatives, and such other guests as may be invited, assemble at the place which they have appointed. The Scribe then pro-ceeds to take the names, ages, native towns, Counties, States and countries of the parties to be married, which he carefully enters on record. The President, who is the Prophet, Seer and Revelator over the whole Church throughout the world, and who alone holds the keys of authority in this solemn ordinance, (as recorded in the second and fifth paragraphs of the Revelation on Mar-riage,) calls upon the bridegroom and his wife, and the bride, to arise, which they do, fronting the President. The wife stands on the left hand of her husband, while the bride stands on her left. The President, then, puts this question to the wife: "Are you willing to give this woman to your husband to be his lawful and wedded wife for time and for all eternity? If you are, you will manifest it by placing her right hand within the right hand of your husband." The right hands of the bride-groom and bride, being thus joined, the wife takes her husband by the left arm, as if in the attitude of walking. The President then proceeds to ask the following ques-tion of the man: "Do you, brother, (calling him by name,) take sister (calling the bride by her name) by the right hand, to receive her unto yourself, to be your law-ful and wedded wife, and you to be her lawful and wed-ded husband, for time and for all eternity, with a cove-nant and promise, on your part, that you will fulfill all the laws, rites and ordinances pertaining to this holy mat-rimony, in the new and everlasting covenant, doing this in the presence of God, angels, and these witnesses, of your own free will and choice?" The bridegroom an-swers, yes. The President then puts the question to the bride: "Do you, sister, (calling her by name,) take brother (calling him by name) by the right hand, and give yourself to him, to be his lawful and wedded wife tor time and for all eternity, with a covenant and prom-ise, on your part, that you will fulfill all the laws, rites and ordinances pertaining to this holy matrimony, in the new and everlasting covenant, doing this in the presence of God, angels and these witnesses, of your own free will and choice?" The bride an-swers, yes. The President then says, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the authority of the Holy Priesthood, I pronounce you legally and lawfully husband and wife for time and for all eternity; and I seal upon you the bles-sings of the holy resurrection, with power to come forth in the morning of the first resurrection, clothed with glo-ry, immortality and eternal lives; and I seal upon you the blessings of thrones, and dominions, and principali-ties, and powers, and exaltations, together with the bless-ings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and say unto you be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, that you may have joy and rejoicing in your posterity in the day of the Lord Jesus. All these blessings, together with all other blessings pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, I seal upon your heads, through your faithful-ness unto the end, by the authority of the Holy Priest-hood, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen." The Scribe then enters on the general record the date and place of the marriage, to-gether with the names of two or three witnesses who were present.
