From:   IN%"bfree@mainelink.net"

After Polygamy Was Made A Sin:
The Social History of Christian Polygamy

John Cairncross, 1974

Published by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, London

"Orthodoxy in Western Europe, or for that matter in the 
Christian world as a whole, has been fiercely opposed to 
polygamy in any shape or form since at least A.D.600, and has 
shown itself particularly ruthless in suppressing the hated 
monster whenever it raised its head in their
own ranks.  This constant opposition explains both why the 
Christian polygamists rarely put their views into practice and 
why their writings are often to be found in scarce, or out
-of-the-way editions."  PREFACE

With this introduction, Mr. Cairncross launches into a very
scholarly, thoroughly researched, exposition on Christian 
polygamy, as can be attested to by the Bibliography of more 
than 90 references, some dating back as far as the 16th 
century.  Ostensibly, Mr. Cairncross is a historian, merely laying 
out the (albeit fascinating) account of a suprisingly large 
number of arguments made in favor of, and even attempts to 
introduce, polygamy, in the Protestant world, some by well 
known theologians or authors.  But to this, admittedly unbiased, 
reviewer, within the overview of centuries of debate on this 
issue, it is possible to see a pattern emerging: that of men who 
truly believe in the righteousness of their cause, willing to take 
a stand for the Truth, to boldly express that which is often 
considered Heresy by the powers that be.  Some of them would 
pay the ultimate price for their vision. Their contribution is not 
lessened, nor their Cause weakened, by the fact that a few who 
would take up their arguments were merely interested in their 
own gratification or justification of their dubious lifestyles. 
Most of those who would pick up this standard were men above
reproach.

It is no coincidence that this issue was first brought to the fore 
in Europe, after a silence of many centuries, soon after the 
beginning of the Protestant Reformation in the early
 1500s.  It was at this time that men begin to really seek God 
for themselves, and to take His Word as a personal source
 of Revelation, once again.  What many found there could not
 be denied:  Their was nothing against polygamy in the Bible, 
and indeed much to suggest it was one type of marriage that 
God had ordained for his people.  "When the great Reformer, 
Martin Luther nailed his protest against papal indulgences
 to the church door in Wittenburg in 1517, he started an 
earthquake.  .the Catholic hierarchy was rapidly undermined, 
and in its place was set the Gospel. .both the Old and New Tes
to be literally inspired and deserving of reverence."(pg.2)
Thus it was that in 1534, the "German city of Munster 
proclaimed polygamy as the ideal form of marriage.  The event 
is unique in the history of Christian Europe, and the reaction to 
this announcement explains why the experiment was never 
repeated.  For it was greeted with a unanimous revulsion and 
horror."(pg.1)   Mr. Cairncross never adequately examines the
 reason for this opposition, (perhaps because a purely 
historic look would never be able to discover the true source), 
but he makes it clear that this opposition was always present
 (both from the Catholic church, and future Protestant leaders) 
to meet what ever person or group would dare to propose
such a thing.  

The Munsterites were one radical group of a new Protestant 
sect, the Anabaptists.  Much of the knowledge we have of them, 
and their year-long polygamist experiment, comes directly from 
the historians of their enemies, for they were besieged by 
Catholic and Protestant foes immediately, and when they fell a 
year late!  Some were put to death. The accounts of this time 
are filled with vitriolic denunciations of the Musterites and 
their morals, "in fact, Munster under Anabaptist rule was a 
centre of extremely austere morality. It's only crime, by 
orthodox standards, was to have introduced polygamy, and a 
highly Puritan type at that!" (pg .24)   While this episode was 
over quickly, "Puritan polygamy was not extinguished under 
the ashes of the ruined city. The influence of the Munsterite 
ideas was profound." (pg.27)
 
  So it was that the stage was set for repeated serious forays 
into the debate on polygamy. A few years later, "Phillip of Hesse 
felt impelled by his reverence for the sacraments to mend his 
first marriage by contracting a second one even while his wife 
was alive.  And he did so with the sanction of the Fathers of the 
Reformation.  The first palidin of German Protestantism (Phillip) 
was, with Luther's and Melanchthon's permission, a bigamist. 
Protestant historians have never recovered from the shock." 
(pg. 31) Phillip debated this issue with the Reformer's for many
years before and after his (supposedly secret) 2nd marriage.
  "If, he asked, it should suddenly be possible to overthrow
 the celibacy of the clergy, why should the institution of bigamy 
be a priori excluded?  The only effective answer would
 have been that polygamy is condemned by Christian doctrine.
  But this was a stand that Luther and his colleagues never
took - and for very good reasons.  They could not.  They 
themselves did not believe that polygamy was against divine or 
natural law." (pg. 48)  Luther did state that "A Christian, before 
adopting polygamy, must first have a calling from God." (pg. 49)  
Fair enough.  We should all hear from God before daring
to any God-ordained true "holy" matrimony.  Singular or Plural.

The Italian Ochino, a Franciscan until the age of 55, was
 a fiery orator, and a "man distinguished by the sanctity of
 his life, of a vast culture, venerable, white-haired, and tall, of a 
majestic bearing".  It was only when Ochino left the Catholic 
church and "fled to Switzerland where he became a Calvinist 
that the move towards Anabaptism began". (pg.65- 66) He 
wrote a brilliant thesis on polygamy that was "effervescent, 
witty, and convincing."  Many of the points contained in this 
paper are very similar to those found on God's Free Men 
website.  He was eventually exiled for his teachings,
along with his four children, during winter 1563, by the City 
Fathers of Zurich.  3 of his children died as a result.
(Chapter IV.)

The Christian polygamist story moves eventually to France and 
England. European life, in many arguments for polygamy, is
 contrasted unfavorably with that of primitive cultures, and
 Islamic lands, where it is practiced. Prostitution, divorce
early unheard of in these places, but they flourish, and are 
implicitly approved of, in Europe, where monogamy is the 
standard.  "Between about 1680 and 1750, the campaign for 
polygamy (in England) was in full swing, and plural marriage 
was almost as vigorously canvassed as in Germany during the 
same period." (pg. 126)

Milton, author of Paradise Lost, wrote a manuscript in the 
1650s, "Da Doctrina", a lengthy theological document.   It was 
lost until 1825, when it was discovered and translated, creating 
a pre-Victorian uproar in London.  The famous author had 
dared to justify polygamy!  His arguments are lucid and concise: 
" Polygamy is prohibited to no one, even under the gospel."  
Milton "administers the coup de grace to his opponents when he 
observed that God himself (in Ezekiel 23:4) represents Himself 
as having `espoused two wives' which would have been 
unthinkable had `the practice been dishonourable or shameful'. 
On the contrary, he maintains, polygamy is `lawful and 
honourable'." (pg.129)

"In England of the 1730s, the disease had turned into an 
epidemic.  Pk dated 1737, an Irish clergyman, polygamy is a 
doctrine daily defended in common conversation and often in 
print by a great variety of plausible arguments." (pg.141)
Two chapters on the Mormons, and their persecution.  " Mormon 
wives considerable justification, that their conditions of life 
were far superior to those of the corresponding classes in the
 counties from which they had come and indeed to those in 
most parts of America". (pg. 193)  A huge home for Mormon 
polygamous wives, expected to provide a haven for those 
escaping from their husbands' tyranny, was left without 
occupants.

In the nineteenth century, Protestant missions were expanding 
rapidly, and missionaries around the globe were confronting 
polygamy among their new converts.  In 1844, a conference
of missionaries of various denominations "unanimously agreed
 that `if a convert, before becoming a Christian, has married 
more than wives than one, he shall be permitted to keep them 
all; but such a person shall not be eligible to any office in the 
church'." (pg.198)

An American traveler of this time propagated his polygamous
convictions in print in his home country, but chose to remain 
anonymous.  A "Christian Philanthropist", published Philosophy 
of Marriage, or Polygamy and Monogamy Compared", it ran
to a 2nd edition and 1875 and apparently even to a third.  "
Like almost all of his predecessors, he does not realize that he is 
part of a long tradition." (pg.198)  This work can be found 
elsewhere on this website.  

It would appear that there is a common bond between many of 
these Christian polygamists that cannot be accounted for, since 
they were often unfamiliar with each other's works.  Is it 
possible that there is a more subtle, more powerful force at 
work in these men's lives, binding them together in a 
remarkable quest to restore a Divine plan to our Western 
society?

[Note: The above is also true of the author of this website.
 All arguments in favor of polygamy found here were first 
discovered by direct inspection of God's Word - before any of
the earlier authors mentioned in this report were ever known
 to the author of God's Free Men. Only after this truth was
first revealed from the Scriptures alone were the confirmations 
of earlier writers discovered.]

Some Christian churches in Africa today allow polygamy.  A 
pastor in Cameroon stated: "People have no right to condemn 
polygamy which even Christ did not condemn in the case of 
Abraham". (pg.214)

Cairncross sums up "for a long time to come, there will still be 
an imbalance between the number of men and women able or 
willing to marry. Which may explain why, even now, some 
Catholic theologians in Germany are reported to be giving 
consideration to the possibility of sanctioning polygamy."  He 
closes with a quote from Shaw: "Women will always prefer a 
tenth share of a first-rate man to the exclusive claim to a third
rate one." (pg.218)

Reviewed and contributed by: neb