Isaac’s Marriage: The Happiest in the Bible
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late. The same lack of wisdom and self-control that dictated the hasty
choice is permitted to aggravate the evil, until marriage becomes a
galling yoke. Many thus wreck their happiness in this life and their
hope of the life to come.
If ever the Bible was needed as a counselor, if ever divine guidance
should be sought in prayer, it is before taking a step that binds persons
together for life.
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Parents should never lose sight of their responsibility for the future
happiness of their children. While Abraham required his children to
respect parental authority, his daily life testified that that authority was
not selfish or arbitrary, but was founded in love and had their welfare
and happiness in view.
Fathers and mothers should guide the affections of youth that they
may be placed upon suitable companions. Mold the character of the
children from their earliest years that they will be pure and noble,
attracted to the good and true. Let love for truth, purity, and goodness
be early implanted in the soul, and youth will seek the society of those
who possess these characteristics.
Let parents seek to exemplify the love of the heavenly Father. Let
home be full of sunshine. This will be worth more to your children
than lands or money. Let the home love be kept alive in their hearts,
that they may look back upon the home of their childhood as a place
of peace and happiness next to heaven.
True love is a high and holy principle, altogether different from
that love which, awakened by impulse, suddenly dies when severely
tested. In the parental home youth are to prepare themselves for homes
of their own. Let them here practice self-denial, kindness, courtesy,
and Christian sympathy.
He who goes out from such a household to stand at the head of a
family will know how to promote the happiness of her whom he has
chosen as a companion for life. Marriage, instead of being the end of
love, will be only its beginning.
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