Choosing of a Husband or Wife
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Love Is a Precious Gift From Jesus
Love is a precious gift, which we receive from Jesus. Pure and
holy affection is not a feeling, but a principle. Those who are actuated
by true love are neither unreasonable nor blind.
There is but little real, genuine, devoted, pure love. This precious
article is very rare. Passion is termed love.
True love is a high and holy principle, altogether different in charac-
ter from that love which is awakened by impulse, and which suddenly
dies when severely tested.
Love is a plant of heavenly growth, and it must be fostered and
nourished. Affectionate hearts, truthful, loving words, will make happy
families and exert an elevating influence upon all who come within
the sphere of their influence.
While pure love will take God into all its plans, and will be in
perfect harmony with the Spirit of God, passion will be headstrong,
rash, unreasonable, defiant of all restraint, and will make the object
of its choice an idol. In all the deportment of one who possesses true
love, the grace of God will be shown. Modesty, simplicity, sincerity,
morality, and religion will characterize every step toward an alliance
in marriage. Those who are thus controlled will not be absorbed in
each other’s society, at a loss of interest in the prayer meeting and the
religious service. Their fervor for the truth will not die on account of
the neglect of the opportunities and privileges that God has graciously
given to them.
That love which has no better foundation than mere sensual gratifi-
cation will be headstrong, blind, and uncontrollable. Honor, truth, and
every noble, elevated power of the mind are brought under the slavery
of passions. The man who is bound in the chains of this infatuation is
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too often deaf to the voice of reason and conscience; neither argument
nor entreaty can lead him to see the folly of his course.
True love is not a strong, fiery, impetuous passion. On the contrary,
it is calm and deep in its nature. It looks beyond mere externals, and
is attracted by qualities alone. It is wise and discriminating, and its
devotion is real and abiding.
Love, lifted out of the realm of passion and impulse, becomes
spiritualized, and is revealed in words and acts. A Christian must have
a sanctified tenderness and love in which there is no impatience of