(A) The Positive

(Words of Privilege and Counsel)

Jesus and the Family Relationship—Jesus did not enforce celibacy upon any class of men. He came not to destroy the sacred relationship of marriage but to exalt it and restore it to its original sanctity. He looks with pleasure upon the family relationship where sacred and unselfish love bears sway.—Manuscript 126, 1903. (The Adventist Home, 121.)1MCP 220.4

He [Christ] ordained that men and women should be united in holy wedlock, to rear families whose members, crowned with honor, should be recognized as members of the family above.—The Ministry of Healing, 356 (1905).1MCP 220.5

God's Purpose Fulfilled in Marriage—All who enter into matrimonial relations with a holy purpose—the husband to obtain the pure affections of a woman's heart, the wife to soften and improve her husband's character and give it completeness—fulfill God's purpose for them.—Manuscript 16, 1899. (The Adventist Home, 99.)1MCP 220.6

The Privilege of the Marriage Relation—They [Christians who have married] should duly consider the result of every privilege of the marriage relation, and sanctified principle should be the basis of every action.—Testimonies for the Church 2:380 (1870).1MCP 221.1

[She wrote of] “the fortifications preserving sacred the privacy and privileges of the family relation.”—Testimonies for the Church 2:90 (1868).1MCP 221.2

A Time When Affections May Be Unfettered—The young affections should be restrained until the period arrives when sufficient age and experience will make it honorable and safe to unfetter them.—AM 8, 1864. (Messages to Young People, 452.)1MCP 221.3

The Danger of Carrying the Lawful to Excess—There is in itself no sin in eating and drinking or in marrying and giving in marriage. It was lawful to marry in the time of Noah, and it is lawful to marry now, if that which is lawful is properly treated and not carried to sinful excess....1MCP 221.4

In Noah's day it was the inordinate, excessive love of that which in itself was lawful, when properly used, that made marriage sinful before God. There are many who are losing their souls in this age of the world by becoming absorbed in the thoughts of marriage and in the marriage relation itself....1MCP 221.5

God has placed men in the world, and it is their privilege to eat, to drink, to trade, to marry, and to be given in marriage; but it is safe to do these things only in the fear of God. We should live in this world with reference to the eternal world.—The Review and Herald, September 25, 1888.1MCP 221.6

Marriage No License for Giving Loose Rein to Lustful Passions—Very few feel it to be a religious duty to govern their passions. They have united themselves in marriage to the object of their choice and therefore reason that marriage sanctifies the indulgence of the baser passions. Even men and women professing godliness give loose rein to their lustful passions and have no thought that God holds them accountable for the expenditure of vital energy, which weakens their hold on life and enervates the entire system.1MCP 221.7

The marriage covenant covers sins of the darkest hue. Men and women professing godliness debase their own bodies through the indulgence of the corrupt passions and thus lower themselves beneath the brute creation. They abuse the powers which God has given them to be preserved in sanctification and honor. Health and life are sacrificed upon the altar of base passion. The higher, nobler powers are brought into subjection to the animal propensities. Those who thus sin are not acquainted with the result of their course.—Testimonies for the Church 2:472 (1870).1MCP 222.1

The Delicate Balance Between Love and Lustful Passion—It is not pure love which actuates a man to make his wife an instrument to minister to his lust. It is the animal passions which clamor for indulgence.1MCP 222.2

How few men show their love in the manner specified by the apostle: “Even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might [not pollute it but] sanctify and cleanse it;... that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27). This is the quality of love in the marriage relation which God recognizes as holy.1MCP 222.3

Love is a pure and holy principle, but lustful passion will not admit of restraint and will not be dictated to or controlled by reason. It is blind to consequences; it will not reason from cause to effect.1MCP 222.4

Many women are suffering from great debility and settled disease because the laws of their being have been disregarded; nature's laws have been trampled upon. The brain nerve power is squandered by men and women, being called into unnatural action to gratify base passions; and this hideous monster—base, low passion—assumes the delicate name of love.—Testimonies for the Church 2:473, 474 (1870).1MCP 222.5

Love Versus the Passion of the Natural Human Heart—Love ... is not unreasonable; it is not blind. It is pure and holy. But the passion of the natural heart is another thing altogether. 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.—The Review and Herald, September 25, 1888. (The Adventist Home, 50.)1MCP 223.1

Dictates of Reason to Control—Those who regard the marriage relation as one of God's sacred ordinances, guarded by His holy precept, will be controlled by the dictates of reason.—Healthful Living, No 2, 48, 1865. (Selected Messages 2:440.)1MCP 223.2

Keep Confidences Within the Sacred Family Circle—Around every family there is a sacred circle that should be kept unbroken. Within this circle no other person has a right to come. Let not the husband or the wife permit another to share the confidences that belong solely to themselves.—The Ministry of Healing, 361 (1905).1MCP 223.3