It was, we may safely say, an admitted fact, that Joseph Smith, the reputed prophet, was the author of celestial marriage, or in other words, polygamy as practiced by the Utah Mormons, until it was denied by what is known as the Reorganized Church. It will, it must be admitted, that if the Mormon prophet was the author of the polygamous revelation that we have given, he was the real author of that practice, and was himself in such practice when that document was written, for there is in it a labored effort to justify "My servant Joseph" in such practice. If Smith was the author of that document, it follows, as a consequence, that polygamy is a legitimate tenet of and belongs to genuine Mormonism. Such being the case polygamy rests upon the same foundation that the Book of Mormon does, and is sustained by the same inspiration. Such being so, Mormonism and polygamy must stand or fall together. One cannot hold to the one and reject the other. President Joseph Smith, son of the prophet, and president of the Reorganized Church, makes an effort to account for the origin of polygamy; and of course, does the best that can be done on the negative of the question now before us. He says:
"I believe that during the last years of my father's life there was a discussion among the elders, and possibly in practice, a theory like the following: that persons who might. believe that there was a sufficient degree of spiritual affinity between them as married companions to warrant the desire to perpetuate that union in the world to come and after the resurrection, could go before some high priest whom they might choose, and there making known their desire, might be married for eternity, pledging themselves while in the flesh unto each other for the observance of the rights of companion-
