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-24-
The Marriage Ring
Do not bring your religious friends too much about you, so as to annoy him; especially, keep away as much as possible any that may have a less portion of discretion than the rest; and confine yourself to the more judicious and best informed. Never rudely interfere with his pursuits, his reading, or his company, although they may not be what you can cordially approve. Till he is enlightened from above, he will not see the evil of these things, and to attempt to interrupt him, in any way than by the mildest and most respectful expostulation, will only do harm.
Should he wish to draw you from the high pursuit of eternal life, you are not, of course, in this case, to yield to his persuasion, not in anything to concede, where your conscience is decidedly concerned in the matter. You must be firm, but mild. One concession granted by you would lead to another. But still, even in this extremity, your resistance to his attempts to interfere with your religion must be maintained in all meekness of wisdom, and must be attended with fresh efforts to please, in all things which are lawful. If such a line of conduct should subject you to reproach, anger, and persecution, a most painful and by no means an uncommon case, you must possess your soul in patience, and commit your way to Him that judgeth righteously. Many a persecuting husband has been subdued, if not to religion, yet to kinder conduct, by the meek and uncomplaining temper of his wife.
To conclude. Let us all seek after more of the spirit of true religion —the spirit of faith, of hope, of prayer; a faith that really believes the Word of God, and looketh habitually to the cross of Christ, by which we obtain salvation, and to the eternal world, where we shall fully and for-ever enjoy it; a hope that lives in the expectation and desire of glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life; and a spirit of prayer which leads us daily and hourly to the throne of Divine grace, for all that aid of the Holy Ghost which we need, not only for the duties that refer to our relations to another world, but for those which devolve upon us in consequence of our relations in this. "Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come." The same principle of Divine grace which unites us to God will bind us closer to each other.
Religion contains in it not only the seeds of immortal virtues, but of such as are mortal; not only the germs of excellences which are to flourish in the temple of Heaven, but which grow up in the house of our pilgrimage upon earth, to enliven with their beauty, and to refresh with their fragrance, the domestic circle. A good Christian cannot be a bad husband or father, and, other things being equal, he who has most piety will shine most in all the relations of life.
A Bible placed between man and wife as the basis of their union, the rule of their conduct, and the model of their spirit, will make up many a difference, comfort them under many a cross, guide them in many a strait, wherein flesh and blood will be confounded and at a loss, support them in their last parting from each other, and reunite them in that happy world where they shall go no more out.
"Those married pairs that live as remembering that they must part again, and give an account how they treat themselves and each other, shall, at the day of their death, be admitted to glorious espousals; and, when they shall live again, be married to their Lord, and partake of His glories. All those things that now please us shall pass from us, or we from them; but those things that concern the other life are permanent as the numbers of eternity; and although at the resurrection there shall be no relation of husband and wife, and no marriage shall be celebrated but the marriage of the Lamb, yet then shall be remembered how men and women passed through this state, which is a type of that; and from this sacramental union, all holy pairs shall pass to the spiritual and eternal, where love shall be their portion, and joys shall crown their heads, and they shall lie in the bosom of Jesus, and in the heart of God to eternal ages."
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Far, far beyond the reach of mortal ken,
No eye hath seen it, nor hath human pen
Portrayed the glories of that world above,
Whose very atmosphere is holy love!
There Christians, who in union dwelt on earth,
Heirs of its mansions by celestial birth,
In blest society shall meet and blend
In love and fellowship that never end.
Oh! 'twill be passing sweet, to meet the friend
We loved on earth, and there together bend
Before the throne eternal, and rehearse
Its untold glories in exalted verse.
To walk in company the golden streets,
To sit, but not apart, on shining seats;
To trace the beauties of each dazzling gem,
Or pluck the fruit of some unfading stem!
To sip the waters of the sparkling fount,
To crop the flowers that deck the holy mount,
To breathe the fragrance of the balmy gale,
Or on the crystal river spread the sail!
But most to see the wonders of His grace,
To see the veiled splendors of His face,
Who bought us with price immense, unknown,
And raised us from a prison to a throne.
THE END