Plural Marriage
Kimball received private instruction from Joseph Smith on plural marriage (polygamy). Initially reluctant, Kimball accepted the responsibility and married a second wife, Sarah Noon. His first wife, Vilate Murray Kimball, accepted plural marriage and welcomed the additional wives as sisters. Heber and Vilate agreed and gave their 14-year-old daughter Helen Marr as a plural wife of Joseph Smith. Kimball considered the marrying of multiple wives an expression of his faith in and obedience to God: "I have noticed that a man who has but one wife, and is inclined to that doctrine, soon begins to wither and dry up, while a man who goes into plurality looks fresh, young, and sprightly. Why is this? Because God loves that man, and because he honors His work and word."
Ann Eliza Young, a long-time critic of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, alleged that later in a sermon given from the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Kimball declared, "I think no more of taking wife than I do of buying a cow." One LDS scholar has argued that Ann Eliza fabricated the quote, since it cannot be corroborated by any other source, including the extensive (though not comprehensive) record of early Mormon sermons in the Journal of Discourses.
Read more about this topic: Heber C. Kimball
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
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—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Horsefeathers, a wisecrack made to Huxley College’s outgoing president (1932)