Young Men and Marriage.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume VI, Issue 61, 29 July 1897, Page 3

Young Men and Marriage.

There ia no difficulty in understanding what Nature’s intention is in the matter of marriage. So writes the Rev. Dr. C. Parkhurst. It denotes (he tells us) a great deal in general that Nature means that a man should adopt a particular course, and it denotes a great deal more in particular that Nature means that a man should not play the game of life or fight the battle of life alone. Nature’s intention is God’s law, and as such it is imprudent to ignore it, and as such I would go further, and say that it is criminal to disobey it. It is not intended by this to imply that there may not, in particular instances, be insuperable impediments to marriage which would absolve from matrimonial obligation. I am only trying to make distinct the truth that marriage is our normal estate, that God has legislated marriage ar a law of life, and that the man who deals with that law, either indifferently or contemptuous]} 7 , does so at his peril, and comes very closely upon the ground of disobedience to Divine requirement, for it must always bo remembered that the personal ability to do as we like carries with it not the slightest guarantee of moral right to do as we like. The idea that the marriage question ia one that a young man can afford to treat with indifference would become possible only on the assumption that each man is in himself a finished unit. But each man is not in' himself a finished unit. The individual regularly lacks cortain qualities essential to a completed personality. A male taken by himself is simply an attempt, just as a female taken by herself is simply an attempt. An old bachelor is constantly suggestive of what he has just missed of becoming. So iB an old maid.