Marriage a Sacred Ordinance
NP
Undated, circa 1903
Previously unpublished.
The ordinance of marriage is a sacred matter. Marriage is and ever should be considered as a most precious domestic arrangement of [the] One who made man. There are men and women who have carried their selfish ideas into the marriage life, but this is the cause of much unhappiness. No longer is each to live for self alone. Each is to blend with each. Bound up in the sacred bonds of wedlock they are in spirit, words, and speech [to] give evidence of [its] exalted character, to regard wedlock as the Lord's plan to create homes and bring into practical life the science of true, genuine blending of heart with heart. 18LtMs, Ms 202, 1903, par. 1
They two shall be one flesh, and if Christ is abiding in the heart, they are one mind. The Lord [created] man, then the woman, that they should blend in the love and fear of God as one to glorify God in their mind, heart, soul, and strength—consulting together, praying together, searching the Scriptures together. The Lord knew how to carry forward His work in our world. 18LtMs, Ms 202, 1903, par. 2
Man was [to] crave the love of woman and woman to feel that she is, in the Lord's plan, to have the affections of the man she has chosen and thus to bring into the life the beauty of a compact, wholly-conscious affection for each other. 18LtMs, Ms 202, 1903, par. 3
God said, It is not good for man to be alone even in the paradise home. The man needs the softening, subduing influence [of the woman] to give completeness to his own character building in and through Christ Jesus. And the Lord designed [that] His human family should be complete in the sacred bonds of matrimony. He would elevate and purify the domestic life circle and make complete its joys through His sanctifying grace. A Christian home is to be presided over as the Lord's special prescribed agency to purify the affections and present to the world a symbol of the Lord's family above. 18LtMs, Ms 202, 1903, par. 4
Oh, what evil will be avoided in the home if Christ is welcomed morning and evening as a welcome guest in the household. The regenerating influence upon the human mind and character will ever be present—ennobling character, refining and establishing minds united as one in Christ Jesus. If the union formed is to work out the purposes of God, the evidence of Christ's presence will be a constant perfecting of the union that will be enjoyed in heaven above. 18LtMs, Ms 202, 1903, par. 5
If the Lord's professed believing people would be under rule to the Prince of Life, the husband will be the head of the wife and she in her deep love can lean upon her husband, while he is indeed, if he answers the purpose of God, to be priest in his religious service and houseband to bind about the family relation. Pure, clean, holy affections will be a testimony to the world of happy Christian homes. The wife is [to] love, respect, and counsel with her husband. The wife is to be the queen of the home, not a slave but a part of the hallowed union. 18LtMs, Ms 202, 1903, par. 6
[When] the home [is] filled with heavenly sunshine, angels [are] presiding, dissension is not there. Satan has turned the finest ordinance of God into uncertainty and unrest. The wife may be a true and faithful child of God much more so in the married life than standing alone, but her development must be with consideration to her new relation—the married life. 18LtMs, Ms 202, 1903, par. 7
[With] the husband devoting his life to God, the wife, acting in unison, [may] qualify herself to be a religious and spiritual helper, especially if her husband has the ministry in view. Let the woman act her part in her vocation, qualifying herself to unite in the work of ministry, in some line of work, and make a success in complete harmony with the husband's work as a minister of God. Especially should this be ever in mind: unity in the home life in order to have God preside in the home—to ever have [the] approval of the Lord Jesus. Let there be no contention. Let the peace of Christ rule. 18LtMs, Ms 202, 1903, par. 8