Hopes and Helps for the Young of Both Sexes. (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1854 Excerpt: ... LECTURE XV. MAKEIAGE Marriage, the Foundation of the Social Fabric--Improper Marriage a living Misery--Marriage should be made a Study--Ignorance, the Bane of Matrimony--Importance of the Besults of Marriage--Characteristics of the Sexes--Contrasts and Affinities of Character--Goodness does not constitute Harmony--Duty of nearly all to Marry--Matrimonial Candidates Classified--A true Mate the other half of Self--Honesty in Matrimonial Matters--Marrying for a Home, Money, or Passion--Study thy Constitution--Harmony of Temperament;--Intellectual Adaptation--Moral and Social Harmony--A thorough Acquaintance necessary. Of all the institutions that affect human weal or woe in the earth, none is more important than Marriage. It is the foundation of the great social fabric; and conceals within its mystic relations the coiled secret of the largest proportion of happiness and misery connected with the sublunary lot of mortals. When God formed man, He said, " It is not good for him to be alone." So He says of each man and each woman now, "It is not good for him or her to be alone." This is the Divine annunciation written in the social constitution of the race. Not in the Bible only, but in the heart of every man and woman, it is found. A marriage-altar is erected in every soul by the Hand that made us; and at that altar the Divinity presides, solemnizing, in a covenant of eternal beauty, peace, and lov3, the marriage of its 230 IMPROPER MARRIAGE A LIVING MISERY. rightful partner. It is true that God marries the truly married. He joins the spirit partners; and what He joins no man can put asunder. Their persons may be separated, and forced into other relations, but their spirits remain locked in the eternax embraces of a divinely-appointed union. All the blessedness, ...