CHAPTER IV.
MARRIAGE.
We know that scenes not always bright |
Must unto them be given; |
But let there shine o'er all the light |
Of Love and Truth and Heaven. — Gaskell. |
Whose love was of that dignity, |
That it went hand in hand, even with the vow |
I made to her in marriage. — Hamlet. |
Beneath my leaves, though early fallen and faded, |
Young plants are warmed; they drink my branches' dew. |
Let them not, Lord, by me be Upas-shaded; |
Make me, for their sake, firm and pure and true. |
James Freeman Clarke. |
WHEN our great Teacher went to be baptized, John
was astounded. Reading his thoughts, Jesus
added, “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness.” His concessions to material
methods were for the adjustment of spiritual good.
Marriage is the only legal and moral provision for generation among the higher species. Until the spiritual creation is discerned, and the union of male and female apprehended as in the vision of the Apocalypse, — where its spiritual sense was revealed from heaven, — this rite should continue, under such moral regulations as will secure increasing virtue.