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Messages to Young People
such a step is anticipated. Marriage is something that will influence
and affect your life, both in this world and in the world to come. A
sincere Christian will not advance his plans in this direction without
the knowledge that God approves his course. He will not want to
choose for himself, but will feel that God must choose for him. We
are not to please ourselves, for Christ pleased not Himself. I would
not be understood to mean that anyone is to marry one whom he does
not love. This would be sin. But fancy and the emotional nature must
not be allowed to lead on to ruin. God requires the whole heart, the
supreme affections.
The majority of the marriages of our time, and the way in which
they are conducted, make them one of the signs of the last days. Men
and women are so persistent, so headstrong, that God is left out of
the question. Religion is laid aside, as if it had no part to act in this
solemn and important matter. But unless those who profess to believe
the truth are sanctified through it, and exalted in thought and character,
they are not in as favorable a position before God as the sinner who
has never been enlightened in regard to its claims.—
The Review and
Herald, September 25, 1888
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