Chapter 46—Unscriptural Marriages
We are living in the last days, when the mania upon the subject
of marriage constitutes one of the signs of the near coming of Christ.
God is not consulted in these matters. Religion, duty, and principle
are sacrificed to carry out the promptings of the unconsecrated heart.
There should be no great display and rejoicing over the union of the
parties. There is not one marriage in one hundred that results happily,
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that bears the sanction of God, and places the parties in a position
better to glorify Him. The evil consequences of poor marriages are
numberless. They are contracted from impulse. A candid review of the
matter is scarcely thought of, and consultation with those of experience
is considered old-fashioned.
Impulse and unsanctified passion exist in the place of pure love.
Many imperil their own souls, and bring the curse of God upon them,
by entering into the marriage relation merely to please the fancy. I
have been shown the cases of some who profess to believe the truth,
who have made a great mistake by marrying unbelievers. The hope
was cherished by them that the unbelieving party would embrace the
truth; but after his object is gained, he is further from the truth than
before. And then begin the subtle workings, the continued efforts, of
the enemy to draw away the believing one from the faith.
Many are now losing their interest and confidence in the truth be-
cause they have taken unbelief into close connection with themselves.
They breathe the atmosphere of doubt, of questioning, of infidelity.
They see and hear unbelief, and finally they cherish it. Some may have
the courage to resist these influences, but in many cases their faith
is imperceptibly undermined and finally destroyed. Satan has then
succeeded in his plans. He has worked through his agents so silently
that the barriers of faith and truth have been swept away before the
believing ones have had any thought of where they were drifting.
It is a dangerous thing to form a worldly alliance. Satan well knows
that the hour that witnesses the marriage of many young men and
women closes the history of their religious experience and usefulness.
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