In the matter of marriage, too many are influenced by the pomp and parade
of the mere outward. The glitter of gold, the smile of beauty, and the
array of titled distinction and circumstance, act like a charm upon the
feelings and sentiments of many well-meaning parents and children. But it
is not all gold that glitters. We must not think that those are happy in
their marriage union, because they are obsequious in their attentions to
each other, and live together in splendor, overloaded with fashionable
congratulations. We cannot determine the character of a marriage from its
pomp and pageantry. We rather determine the many unhappy matches from the
false principles upon which the parties acted in making choice of each
other. What are some of these? We answer--
1. The manner of paying addresses involves a false principle of procedure.
These are either too long or too short, and paid in an improper spirit and
manner. There are too much flirtation and romance connected with them. The
religious element is not taken up and considered. They do not involve the
true idea of preparation, but have an air of mere sentimentalism about
them. The object in view is not fully seen. The most reprehensible motives
and the most shocking thoughtlessness pervade them throughout. These
addresses carry with them an air of trifling, a want of seriousness and
frankness, which betrays the absence of all sense of responsibility, and of
all proper views of the sacredness of marriage and of its momentous
consequences both for time and for eternity.
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