Chapter VI - Marriage
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not be required to participate in all the annoyances and
not be required to participate in all the annoyances and
cares of domestic economy, or woman to understand
political economy; but fulfilling the different demands
of separate spheres, their sympathies may blend to com-
fort, cheer and sustain each other, thus hallowing the
copartnership of interests and affection whereon the
heart leans and is at peace. Tender words, and un-
selfish care for what promotes the respect and happiness
of thy wife, is more salutary in prolonging her smiles
and health, than stolid indifference, or jealousy; hus-
bands, hear this, and remember how slight a thing might
have spared the old trysting times. It is too late after
marriage to grumble over disparities of dispositions; a
mutual understanding should exist before, and con-
tinue ever after this union. Deception is fatal to hap-
piness. The nuptial vow is never annulled so long as
its moral obligations are preserved, but the frequency
of divorce shows the sacredness of this relation losing
its puritanical character, and that some fatal mistake
is undermining its true basis. A separation takes
place when the motives for marriage are not suited
to individual progress and happiness. The science of
being inevitably lifts us higher in the scale of harmony,
and will ultimately shake off all shackles that fetter the
mind, ripe for advancement. Therefore, to avoid a dis-
ruption in the marriage relation, mutual tastes, joys,
and aspirations are necessary to form a happy compan-
ionship. The beautiful, is the good in character, that
clasps the indissoluble links of affection.
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A mother's affection cannot be separated from her
A mother's affection cannot be separated from her
child, embracing as it does, purity and Truth, both
of which are immortal, therefore it lives on under all
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difficulties. From the very logic of events, we learn
difficulties. From the very logic of events, we learn
the selfish and impure are all that is fleeting, and that
Wisdom will ultimately separate what it hath not
joined together.
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Marriage should improve the species, become a bar-
Marriage should improve the species, become a bar-
rier to vice, a protection to woman, a strength to man,
and a center for the affections. This, however, in a
majority of cases, is not its present tendency; and be-
cause the education of our higher natures is neglected
for other considerations, frivolous amusements, adorn-
ments of the person, passion, display, and pride. An
ill-attuned ear calls discord harmony, not apprehend-
ing concord; so personal sense, discerning not the true
happiness of being, places it on a false basis; but sci-
ence corrects the discord and teaches us Life's sweeter
harmonies. Soul hath infinite resources wherewith to
bless mankind, and happiness were more readily at-
tained and secure in our keeping if sought of Soul.
The higher order of enjoyments is all that satisfies the
cravings of immortal man; we cannot circumscribe our
happiness within the limits of wealth or fame. The
good we possess should have ascendency over the evil,
and the spiritual over the animal, or happiness is never
reached. This would improve progeny, diminish crime,
give higher aims to ambition, and prepare the way for
science. The offspring of such parents would inherit
more intellect, better balanced minds, and sounder con-
stitutions. If some fortuitous circumstance places in
the arms of gross parents a more spiritual offspring, the
beautiful child early droops and dies, like a tropical
flower dropped amid Alpine snows; or marrying re-
produces in the helpless offspring the grosser traits of