Ah me! it is but hopeless work When traitor friends within it lurk, In such a pass, nor bolt nor bar And comes not God to turn the war, Come then, Thou great Almighty God Whose arm in former ages brought Courage, faint heart-dismay, farewell! Jehovah stands as sentinel, And I may sleep in peace. 74. Marriage. Two water-drops that meet and mingle, If twined in heaven, endures for life. MATT. xix. 6. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." HE solemn words have been at last uttered, "Until Tdeath shall separate you." death shall separate you." This has indeed been for long the language of our hearts. been spoken by the lips of the minister, God hath joined us together. First of all, then, to Thee, O God, I present the offering of my gratitude. How great the boon, when to one human be ing Thou givest the heart of another, to be exclusively his own! I have been intimate with many a heart on this earth, but then I always knew that others shared its affections along with me. Now, however, there is a heart which I can claim as wholly mine, and that of all hearts the one I love the best. Thou givest all double, when Thou givest a man the heart with which he would most fondly share his all. Yes; my property, my talents, my whole existence, are all bestowed upon me anew, in the gift which I this day receive from Thy hand. Oh forbid that that gift, dear and precious though it be, should hide from me the Giver! No, Lord, never shall I forget that it was from Thy hand I obtained it! I have to thank those of my fellow-men who intrusted the dear one to my care, and allowed her to become the companion of my way. I will thank herself for her consent, and my thanks to her shall consist in the most faithful love and service. It is to Thee, however, O Lord, and for Thy amen, that gratitude is properly and supremely due. The father's smiles his joy reveal, The mother fond, the match to seal, To wish them joy, with many a jest, At length the appointed morn is come, Without Thy blessing, Lord. We belong to Thee, O Lord, before we belong to each other, and before we give our hearts to each other we must first give them to Thee. Indeed the very reason why we are to become each other's is, that each may help the other to become more and more entirely Thine. There may be thousands who, on such a day as this, deem it justifiable to indulge only visionary dreams of joy and pleas ure, and who, in a kind of intoxication, make their entrance into a state involving duties undoubtedly sweet, but which are at the same time unspeakably serious. But I beseech Thee, Lord, vouchsafe to me a sober mind; and place before my eyes, in all its magnitude, the importance of my duties. She has left father and mother to follow her husband; what sacrifices, then, do not I owe to one who has thus sacrificed all for me? In the fullest sense of the word, I must make her the half of myself. Is it not the very nature of love to recognise a second self in the person who is its object? And if we do really find in the beloved object another self, should we not be willing to toil and bear, and sacrifice for her sake as much as for our own? Teach me, O my God, to love in this fashion; that so to live for her, and to suffer for her, may be the delight of my life. Even natural affection can make this an easy task, but unless sanctified by the love of Thee, natural affection will sooner or later give place to the love of self. It is so much more pleasing to our nature to be ministered unto, than to minister to another; and as thine own Word has appointed the man to be the head of the wife, we are greatly too apt to forget that the man exists for the wife's sake as much as the wife for the man's. We husbands are commanded to "love our wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it."1 Implant, then, O Lord Jesus, and root in my heart, that tender and devoted love which finds its happiness in ministering. May the attentions I pay my wife acquaint me with its nature, and the married state prove a school for its continual practice. But let all this be done in Thee, and before Thy face. Yes, Lord; forbid that I should ever make an idol of even the dearest object Thou hast given me upon earth. I must love her not along with Thee, but solely and entirely in Thee. Well did the apostle understand the dangers of the married state, when he says, "He that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife." I thank Thee for having given me a wife who would herself take alarm were I Cor. vii. 33. 1 Eph. v. 25. 2 she to see me setting my love of her above my love of Thee. No; it shall be a settled point between us, that as we both were Thine before we were each other's, so the best and only way of pleasing each other shall be by seeking to please Thee. heavenly Love, Thou who gavest Thy very life to purchase us for a peculiar possession to Thyself, daily shall we admonish each other that we are Thine, that neither of us may ever forget the solemn truth. Thou hast ordained the wife to be a helpmate to the husband, and the husband a helpmate to the wife,— in what better way can we help each other than by each helping the other to become more and more exclusively Thine own? Mutual edification shall be our constant aim. No friend can edify another as a husband the wife, and a wife the husband. Who can see so deeply into the faults and frailties of the heart as they into each other's? Between parties so connected there can be no concealment. The veil must be dropped, and the inner man stand fully disclosed. If, then, the contract between them have been really formed with a view to mutual help, not so much in acquiring the perishing things of this life, but rather in striving after the blessings that are imperishable, how great the good they may do each to the other! Oh give us sincerity and uprightness of heart, that there may be no concealment between us, how painful soever the disclosure may prove, of what we know must be displeasing to Thee. We shall make it our business to exhort, instruct, and reprove each other, until Thy holy light have transformed our inmost being, and assimilated it to Thine image. We shall strengthen the hands that hang down, and encourage the fainting heart; by word and look inquiring from hour to hour, Is all right between thee and God? It may be that Thou hast decreed for us the honour of rearing heirs for Thy kingdom. But how shall we rear others for Thee, unless we have first become Thine ourselves? Whether so great a happiness shall be vouchsafed to us or not, we leave at Thy disposal. "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward." 1 1 Psalm cxxvii. 3. But if, in Thy grace, Thou have destined it for us, then do we all the more earnestly beseech Thee first to make ourselves Thy true children, that so we may be qualified to rear others for Thy heavenly kingdom. "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."1 Resting on that text, we this day join hands; with that text we now enter upon our way. From Thee cometh both to will and to do; make Thy strength perfect in our weakness. Look down upon a loving pair, Who bring their meek and earnest prayer Into Thy presence, Lord. One fond desire we have and true, To serve thee still, in all we do, Yes, from this hour, so dear to both, Be hand with hand united still, To do Thy good and holy will, Till in the grave we rest. And now, before the word we speak We fain would know Thy mind. Lord, be the sweet conviction given To both, that Thou thyself, in heaven, Thy Spirit send to make us mild, Humble and chaste, and meek as child, In love conjoined to Thee. Give to affection's warmest glow, From soul or sense, howe'er it flow, Celestial purity. And should it be our lot to rear Young plants to grace Thy garden here, Or fairer bowers above, May children in their parents see Integrity and love. 1 Rom. xiv. 8. |