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Marriage a Sacred Institution, July 14
Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of
the Lord.
Proverbs 18:22
.
Marriage has received Christ’s sanction and blessing and is to be
regarded as a sacred institution. True religion does not counterwork the
Lord’s plans. God ordained that woman should be united with man in
holy wedlock, to raise up families that would be crowned with honor
who would be symbols of the family in heaven.... Marriage, when joined
with purity and holiness, truth and righteousness, is one of the greatest
blessings ever given to the human family....
The divine love emanating from Christ never destroys human love, but
includes human love, refined and purified. By it human love is elevated
and ennobled. Human love can never bear its precious fruit until it is
united with the divine nature and trained to grow heavenward. Jesus wants
to see happy marriages, happy firesides. The warmth of true friendship
and the love that binds the hearts of husband and wife are a foretaste of
heaven. God has ordained that there should be perfect love and perfect
harmony between those who enter into the marriage relation. Let bride and
bridegroom in the presence of the heavenly universe pledge themselves to
love one another as God has ordained they should....
God made from the man a woman, to be a companion and help-meet
for him, to be one with him, to cheer, encourage, and bless him, he in turn
to be her strong helper. All who enter into matrimonial relations with a
holy purpose—the husband to obtain the pure affections of a woman’s
heart, the wife to soften and improve her husband’s character and give it
completeness—fulfill God’s purpose for them.
Christ came not to destroy this institution, but to restore it to its original
sanctity and elevation. He came to restore the moral image of God in
man, and He began His work by sanctioning the marriage relation. He
who made the first holy pair and who created for them a paradise, has put
His seal upon the marriage institution, first celebrated in Eden, when the
morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
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