Helen Mar Kimball recalls hearing Joseph say plural marriage would be a test of faith.
Helen Mar Kimball, "Scenes and Incidents in Nauvoo," The Woman's Exponent 10, no. 11 (November 1, 1881): 83
The Prophet said that the practice of this principle would be the hardest trial the Saints would ever have to test their faith. It was not his work, but that of the Almighty, and he said it would cause the damnation of all who entered into it with impure motives, and none who acted unrighteously could stand, the trial would be so great; and there would be but few men who would be capable of being saviors upon Mount Zion.