of Joseph Smith's mission. To this end are sent forth proselyting ministers, elders of the church, selected by
sealed or married to the husband, for and in the name of the deceased wife,
for all eternity; and, secondly, to be married for time and eternity herself, to the same man. Thus, by this holy ordiuance, both the dead and the liv- ing wife will be his in the eternal m oilds. But if, previous to marriage for eternity, a woman lose her husband by death, and marry a second, and if her first husband was a good man, then it is the duty of the second husband to be married to her for eternity, not lor herself, but in the name of her deceased husband, while he himself can only be married to her for time; and he is obliged to enter into a covenant to deliver her up, and all her children, to hor deceased husband, in the morning of the first resui-^^tion. ' Waite's Mormon Projihct, 173. 'A man can either have a woman sealed to him as his con- sort for this world only, or he can have her sealed to him both for this world as well as for the world to come — she is A. 's wife while she is on earth, but she becomes B.'s as soon as she has reached heaven. Or again, a woujan — a spinster, for instance — who has talcen a particular fancy to any deceased saint, and who wishes to become his consort in the world to come, can be sealed to him by proxy by becoming the wife of some living saint. She has first to be sealed on earth before she can obtain the necessary introduction mto heaven. When a woman is said to be sealed to a man, it does not neces- sarily imply that she is married to him. It may mean marriage, or it may simply amuunt to an arrangement to marry, to be consummated in the next wor.d, made either directly between the two parties, or by proxy by another party in place of one of the two interested parties who is dead, .. .even if she prefers being the consort of Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Job, etc., for the Monnon spiritual- wife doctrine even ventures to go the length of this! ' Mar- sliaU, Through America, 186. Mrs Stenhouse says President Heber C. Kim- ball upon one occasion introduced her to live of his wives in succession, and upon being asked, 'Are these all you have got?' replied, '0 dear! no. 1 have a few more at home, and about fifty more scattered over the earth some- where. I have never seen them since they were sealed to me in Nauvoo, and 1 hope I never shall again.' Ex-pos6 of Poly (j amy in Utah, 91-2. See also, in this connection. Green's Mormonism, 180-92; Lee's Mormonism Unveiled, IGJ-72.
Brigham, as head of the church, claimed authority not only to marry, but also to uivorce at will. No law's delay, no filing of bills, summoning witnesses, or learned decision granting absolute or partial severance, accompanied by partial or impartial award of property and the custody of infants, was required. Uiven the approbation of the chief, and the rest followed as speedily as a clerk could write the certilicate and receive the fee. In a district removed from the capital, only the consent of the bishop is necessary, and the bill of divorce- ment is a very simple writing. 'March 18, 1871. To whomsoever it may concern. This is to certify, in the beginning of 1869 when I gave a bill of divorce to Sarah Ann Lowry I gave to her for the good of her four children the following property, viz. : a parcel of land of about nine acres enclosed all around, with a house of two rooms and one cow and heifer. William U. fit- ter.' The customary fee is ten dollars, and Mrs VVaite relates an instance in which a woman who had been granted a divorce was told by Brigh;im that the act was null until tiie money was paid. The Mormon Prophet, 23D. The following is copied from note G, app. to Paddock's Madame La Tour: 'An Englishwoman who abandoned her husband and children for the purpose of gatUering with the saints to Zion has been divorced and remarried five times since she came to Utah. The present writer has lived within half a block of a woman who, after being divorced from five husbands, is now living in jxjlyg- amy with the sixth; and one of our district judges reports the case of an elderly saintess, living near the place in which he holds court, who has been divorced fourteen tinics.'
