After
calling three families to go on a mission to strengthen the settlement of St.
John, Apache Co., Arizona. President George Q. Cannon spoke for one
hour and twenty minutes. He read from the writings of Moses as contained in the
Pearl of Great Price, commencing at the account of the Creation, beginning at
he sixth day’s labor; dwelt on the personality of God as the Father of our
Spirits. He referred to the revelation of Our Savior to the brother of Jared.
Read further from the Pearl of Great Price the words of Abraham relating to the
eternity of the creations of God. Also read the first, second and third verses
of Sec. CXXXII of the Doctrine and Covenants. He read from the Book of
Mormon the words of Jacob on the practices of David and Solomon. He enjoined
upon men the necessity of obedience to the law of God relating to the New and
Everlasting Covenant of Marriage. He enjoined upon women the necessity of
obedience to the same law, and exhorted them to teach it to their daughters.
He concluded
by bearing testimony of the truth of the doctrine of the Eternity of the
Marriage Covenant, including the Plurality of Wives. (James Godson Bleak,
The Annals of the Southern Mission, April 27, 1884, in The Annals of the
Southern Mission: A Record of the History of the Settlement of Southern Utah, ed. Aaron McArthur
and Reid L. Neilson [Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2019], 605-6—in light
of the use of Jacob 2, and “the Plurality of Wives” being included in
the “Eternity of the Marriage Covenant,” would show that Plural Marriage does
not exhaust “the Marriage Covenant” but is an appendage thereof)