'"
If momentous interests' are involved in marriage, then, we think that
parents should take an important part in the matrimonial alliances of their
children. When they grow up, they naturally seek a companion for life. The
making choice of that companion is a crisis in their history, and will
determine their future interest and happiness. If separation from home is a
great sacrifice, then we should look well to the grounds of our
justification in making that sacrifice.
We propose, under the head of "match-making," to consider the part which
parents should take in the marriage of their children; and also the false
and true standards of judgment both for parents and their children, in
making the marriage choice and alliance.
Have parents a right to take any part in the marriage choice and alliance
of their children? Have they a right to interfere in any respect with the
marriage of their children? That they do possess such a right, and are
justified in the exercise of it within just and reasonable limits, is, we
think, undisputed by any one acquainted with the Word of God. It is one of
the cardinal prerogatives and duties of the Christian parent. His relation
to his children invests him with it. The age and inexperience of the child,
on the one hand; and the seductions of the world, on the other; imply it.
Children need counsel and admonition; and this is a needs be for the
interposition of the parent's superior wisdom and greater experience.
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