THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE

White Ribbon, Volume 23, Issue 9, 1 December 1951, Page 5

THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE

REV. HARRIS WHITFIELD

There are times in our lives when memory insists that we*go back to earlier days, and we cross the well-worn threshold. We stand in that hallowed room, remembering the family .dtar and the voice of prayer, “Our Father which art in Heaven,” taught to us in our childhood.

Soldiers in the trenches in the first world war were singing “Home Sweet Home," and one of them was asked if he did not think that was sentimental, and a sign of weakness? “No.” he said, “it reminds me of the glory and beauty of home “ I‘resident Garfield in the presence of that great assembly giving his inauguration address paid such honour to his aged mother and exalted his home. When home goes down many other institutions go too. Home is the chief corner stone upon which the social fabric rests. “What God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” The Registry Office divests marriage of its Divine authority. The State may put asunder, hut what God hath joined together no man can separate. The severance of from marriage is one of the greatest perils threatening us today. The foundation of the State ; s the family. The foundation of the family is the marriage bond. The sanctity of the vow is made in the Xante of God. What is needed is a new emphasis on the Divine

nature of marriage. What sort of a nation would it be if we relied entirely on legislators? Divorce 4 undermines the domestic aUars of the nation. The causes of Divorce are usually one or-both of two things—a lack of religion and a wrong idea of sex. The ideal state is always where love is. Sex is a great sacrament of life. Love must he the supreme factor of the home. A woman said: “1 can’t understand why we are not happy. 1 cook his food well, keep the house clean, put his slippers to warm; Ido everything . . Yes, she may do all this, hut a man wants the love, Christian love, of his wife. He must needs gi\t* that love until harmony reigns. Paul said, 'lf I give all my goods to feed the poor, and have not LOVE, 1 am nothing. Love is patient, knows no jealousy, never irritable, and always believes the best/’

Many of the frustrating conditions and difficult economic problems make such an ideal home not easy to attain. A family living in two rooms profoundly affects family life. Under these conditions it is not easy to set a high standard of values. The aim is nevertheless to plan for character building and have formative influences on the lives of the children. Then when the children are older the training in the home will be a mutual affair. Every family is it part of a larger community. The truest complement paid to Robert Browning was paid by a lady, who said “he behaved like a Christian to his wife." He understood the sentiments of a woman's heart Read some of the letters of Edward Wilson to his wife in the last stages of his life in the Arctic regions. He spoke of his wife as a gentle woman with a pure moral virtue. When love has a Cross at the centre, there is self-sacrificing love, the beauty of forgiving love, all reflecting as in a mirror the Glory of God. Such love knows no foolish embarrassment, mawkish sentimentality or the beauty of sex spoiled by negative warnings;

sex is an agency of love. To those contemplating marriage may 1 say—What about the child of your dreams sleeping now in the arms of God? Before you wake liim to be your own little child, is this lover of yours good enough to be his father? Will he be able to guide the frail bark through the stormy sea of life? A boy was brought under my care who had committed crime. His home was clean and tidy, the parents were both making good money. I asked the boy, “What do you wish for most in your life?" He said that he wished someone would like him; he meant someone who w r ould love him and show him the middle of the road. In that home sex and money were masters, instead of sex and money being wonderful servants.

Where true love is, and where there is a sense of the divine purpose of life, then God pours His Grace into life to guide, strengthen, and fortify.

Do not ever joke about sex. Sex is sacred. It spells “togetherness," “harmony." Then may I ask all wdio are now preparing to build a home to make a vow that you will both say a prayer together every day. If you only say “0 God, keep us true to or.e another and to Thee," yes, just that you have had family worship. Make a little church ir tlie home. It costs no money, no labour. Remember the symbol of religion is not a cushion but a Cross. Keep your purity until that which would have made you impure will he right and proper in marriage. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," Paul said. Yes, there is a Christian conception of marriage, for marriage is instituted of God. It is not an arrangement devised by man, not something sanctioned by the State, or controlled by laws. It is God entering two united lives in the vows made in His Presence. Marriage can only be broken by sin. “Love never faileth." “Tiil death us do part.” “One flesh " “The Body a Temple of the Holy Ghost.” God has given us tools and the material we need. He has promised guidance and blessing. The women of the future are imprisoned in the women of today. When I see the way some people live 1 w r onder what problems, psychological, physical and spiritual, we will have to face in later years. Mary speaks to us of the purity of womanhood, the sanctity of marriage, and the sacredness of motherhood. Let us pray that these so-called new morals and modern ways will not destroy the high ideals of the sacredness of courtship, and the sanctity of marriage.

Here are a few simple rules: Have patience with each other; work together, play together, growup together. In all disputes avoid excited talk. Do not conceal little differences until they accumulate to the breaking point; discuss them calmly. Sympathy and mutual understanding are pillars in the home. Good humour in parting in the morning and a cheerful greeting at night. Share responsibilities. Establish a home of your own. Make your bedtime prayers a review cf the day and never go to bed without a clean slate. This is all simple enough, practical enough, and wise. Marriage is a habit; keep it in good repair.

“Be with them in the tasks that lie before them; May faith and hope and love attend their way. Till, labour ended, evening shadows gather And call them to the land of endless day.” “In the beginning God’ —and God never ending.