men are to be, in this respect, like the angels of God, neither marrying nor given in marriage. 4. On the other hand the marriage union is not merely one of interests and feeling. Husbands and wives are in such a sense one, that the husband is the complement of the wife and the wife of the husband. The marriage rela- tion is necessary to the completeness of our nature and to its full development in the present state. Some in- deed, as Paul, may attain a higher degree of perfection in celibacy than in marriage. But this arises from some peculiarity of character or circumstances. There are faculties and virtues, excellencies and feelings, which are latent until developed in the conjugal rela- tion. The Romish doctrine, therefore, which degrades marriage as a state less holy than celibacy, is contrary to nature and the word of God. 5. Besides this oneness between husband and wife arising from the original] constitution of their nature, rendering the one neces- sary as the completion of the other, there is doubtless a oneness of life involved in our Lord’s declaration,
” which no
“They are no more twain, but one flesh, one can understand.
Such being the nature of marriage, it follows :— 1. That it is a union for life between one man and one woman; and consequently that bigamy, polygamy, and voluntary divorce are all inconsistent with its nature. 2. That it must be entered into freely and cordially by the parties, i. e. with the conviction that the one is suited to the other, so that they may com- plement each other, and become one in the scriptural