Unwise Marriages
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with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another,” “submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” “Let nothing be done
through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem
other better than themselves.” Unless the advice and counsel of the
church can be respected, it is indeed powerless. God has placed a
voice in the church which must control its members.
If you are led by truth rather than error you will be willing to obey
your parents and sacredly regard the voice of the church. Your prayers
have been made with a determination to carry out what you regarded
as right, irrespective of the wishes of your parents or of the church. All
through your life you have been actuated in a large degree by selfish
feelings. Ofttimes a great sacrifice of feeling has to be made in order
to comply with the conditions laid down in God’s word and to act from
principle.
“Should parents,” you ask, “select a companion without regard to
the mind or feelings of son or daughter?” I put the question to you as
it should be: Should a son or daughter select a companion without first
consulting the parents, when such a step must materially affect the
happiness of parents if they have any affection for their children? And
should that child, notwithstanding the counsel and entreaties of his
parents, persist in following his own course? I answer decidedly: No;
not if he never marries. The fifth commandment forbids such a course.
“Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Here is a commandment
with a promise which the Lord will surely fulfill to those who obey.
Wise parents will never select companions for their children with-
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out respect to their wishes. No one has ever proposed to do this in
your case. But most of that which the youth of our day term love
is only blind impulse, which originates with Satan to compass their
destruction.
Should you, my brother, go to our college now, as you have
planned, I fear for your course there. Your expressed determination to
have a lady’s company wherever you should go shows me that you are
far from being in a position to be benefited by going to Battle Creek.
The infatuation which is upon you is more satanic than divine. I do
not wish to have you disappointed in regard to Battle Creek. The rules
are strict there. No courting is allowed. The school would be worth
nothing to students were they to become entangled in love affairs as