--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Smith, Joseph F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 5 number: 9 published: 1902-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Joseph F. Smith, "Editor’s Table—Marriage God Ordained and Sanctioned," *Improvement Era* 5, no. 9 (July 1902): 713–718.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0509unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0509unse start_page: 713 end_page: 718 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1902-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0509unse publication_year: 1902 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1902, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Editor’s Table—Marriage God Ordained and Sanctioned 712 IMPROVEMENT ERA. duction in the tariff on Cuban sugars, find themselves in a some" what awkward, not to say embarrassing condition. King Alphonso XIII of Spain. By a curious coincident Alphonso XIII, King of Spain, reached the age of sixteen and took his oath of office May 17, three days before Cuba launched her ship of state. Alphonso was born king, his father having died some six months before the young king's birth. The young boy now becomes a king in a constitu- tional monarchy, and must yield to such popular government as the constitution grants to his county. The oath of the king reads as follows: "I swear by God upon the Holy Bible to maintain the constitution and laws; if so I do, may God reward me; if I do not, may he call me to account." The event of th« King's coronation had its ecclesiastical as well as political significance, and the observances of the church were strictly maintained. Our special envoy to that country, to witness the coronation, was Dr. J. M. L. Curry, whose generous treatment by the Spanish indicates the return of cordial feelings between that country and this. The young king is a boy of promise intellectually, but it is said that he does not possess a very robust constitution. He speaks the French, German, and English languages fluently, and possesses, therefore, certain prepa- rations for a diplomatic life. It is hardly likely that the boy will have personally very great influence, for some years to come, in consequence of his youth, and it is not at all unlikely that the influence of his regent mother will manifest itself in the official life of the son. EDITOR'S TABLE. MARRIAGE GOD-ORDAINED AND SANCTIONED. Count Leo Tolstoi has recently advocated the abolition of mar- riage as a leading, if not an only, means for the advancement of the human race. While the unanimous sentiment of American critics has branded his teaching in regard to sexual relations as "insane," it is nevertheless a fact that there are quite a number of people in our country who share his opinions, and champion his insane philosophy. Papers also, among them New Thought, Chicago, and The Christian, Denver, have taken the startling posi- tion that "parentage is neither ideal nor exalted," and that "motherhood and fatherhood on the mortal plane is a sham," "one great delusion," and "the mystery of iniquity." There is no doubt that, like the people of France, Americans are more and more be- ing imbued with the selfish and ungodly idea that marriage is wrong and children a disgrace. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes an en- tirely opposite view, and believes in, and teaches as gospel truth, the first great scriptural commandment of God to man: "Be fruit- ful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it." While there are not many passages respecting marriage in the holy scriptures, there is much said which clearly indicates that God has commanded, authorized and instituted the marriage rela- tion. This was made very plain in the revelation of God to the Prophet Joseph Smith, as witness this language in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 49: 15: And, again, I say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man. I desire to emphasize this. I want the young men of Zion to 714 IMPROVEMENT ERA. realize that this institution of marriage is not a man-made institu- tion. It is of God; it is honorable, and no man who is of mar- riageable age is living his religion who remains single. It is not simply devised for the convenience alone of man, to suit his own notions, and his own ideas; to marry and then divorce, to adopt and then to discard, just as he pleases. There are great conse- quences connected with it, consequences which reach beyond this present time, into all eternity, for thereby souls are begotten into the world, and men and women obtain their being in the world. Marriage is the preserver of the human race. Without it, the pur- poses of God would be frustrated; virtue would be destroyed to give place to vice and corruption, and the earth would be void and empty. Neither are the relationships that exist, or should exist, be- tween parents and children, and between children and parents, of an ephemeral nature, nor of a temporal character. They are of eternal consequence, reaching beyond the veil, in spite of all that we can do. The man and the woman who are the agents, in the providence of God, to bring living souls into the world are made, before God and the heavens, as responsible for these acts as is God himself re- sponsible for the works of his own hands, and for the revelations of his own wisdom. The man and the woman who engage in this ordinance of matrimony are engaging in something that is of such far-reaching character, and is of such vast importance, that there- by hangs life and death, and eternal increase. Thereupon depends eternal happiness, or eternal misery. For this reason, God has guarded this sacred institution by the most severe penalties, and has declared that whosoever is untrue to the marriage relation, whosoever is guilty of adultery, shall be put to death. This is scriptural law, though it is not practiced today, because modern civilization does not recognize the laws of God in relation to the moral status of mankind. The Lord commanded, "Whosoever sheddeth innocent blood, by man shall his blood be shed." There- by God has given the law. Life is an important thing. No man has any right to take life, unless God commanded it. The law of God as to violation of the marriage covenant is just as strict, and is on a parallel with the law against murder, notwithstanding the former is not carried out. EDITOR'S TABLE. 715 Now I wish to call attention to how marriage should be solemnized, for we believe this to be quite as important as the marriage itself, and that all marriages should be performed in the temples of the Lord, by the authority of the Holy Priesthood. In a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, which deals per- haps as extensively upon the subject of marriage as any other, it is said: And verily, I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, per- formances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made, and entered into, and sealed, by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power, * * * are of no efficacy, virtue or force, in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end, have an end when men are dead. Behold! mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion. Will I accept of an offering, saith the Lord, that is not made in my name! Or, will I receive at your hands that which I have not appointed! And will I appoint unto you, saith the my Father ordained unto you, Lord, except it be by law, even as I and before the world was! am the Lord thy God, and I give unto you this I commandment, that no man shall come unto the Father but by me, or by my word, which is my law, saith the Lord; and everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me, or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God; for whatsoever things remain, are by me; and whatsoever things are not by me, shall be shaken and destroyed. In the 19th chapter of Matthew is found a point of similar im- port, and is a very important one. It is this, "What therefore God haih joined together, let not man put asunder." My reason for em- phasizing this is that while the numbers of the Latter-day Saints have largely increased, our temple marriages have decreased, or at least have not continued in proportion to our increase in numbers. This is Remember that this passage not pleasing in the sight of God. does not read, "What man hath joined together, let not man put asunder," but on the contrary, "What God hath joined together, .716 IMPROVEMENT ERA. let not man put asunder," and it is decidedly against divorcement, and in favor of the order of marriage instituted by God, and not that order of marriage established by man. It is in perfect har- mony with the teachings of the revelation just quoted. Another point I desire to call your attention to is in the 11th chapter, I Corinthians, in which Paul says: "Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God." Now the understand- ing that I receive from this scripture is that God's plan requires nothing in the shape of that sacred and dear relationship to exist be- tween man and woman except that relationship which is in the Lord, which is of the Lord, which belongs to his authority, to his priest- hood and to the ordinances which he has instituted. I refer also to the scripture in which Christ was plied with the question as to what man should have a certain woman who, subject to the law of Israel or the law of Moses, had married a man and he had died leaving no issue. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, and undertook to entrap the Lord, and asked him who should have this woman; for, according to the Jewish law, seven brothers had mar- ried her, and at last the woman died. Now in the resurrection of the dead, who should have her? Jesus emphatically told them that they erred, not knowing the scripture, nor the power of God. Now this is the point that I wish to make, that if they had understood the order of marriage as God instituted it, as he had revealed it to the prophets of old, and as he has revealed it to the prophets of modern times, then they would have understood that the woman belonged only to the man to whom she had been united by the power of God for eternity. Not one of the others could have her except for time. Unless man and wife are married by the power of God and by his authority, they become single again, they have no claim upon each other, after death; their contract is filled by that time, and is therefore of no force in and after the resurrection from the dead, nor after they are dead; hence, the force of the re- ply of the Savior: Therefore, when they are out of the world, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but become as angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants to minister to those who are worthy of far more and an exceeding and an eternal EDITORS TABLE. 717 weight of glory; for these angels did not abide my law, therefore they cannot be enlarged, but remain separate and single without exalta- tion in their saved condition to all eternity, and from henceforth are not Gods, but angels of God for ever and ever. Now every young person throughout the Church should under- stand this very thoroughly. The Church authorities and the teachers of our associations should inculcate the sacredness, and teach the duty, of marriage, as it has been revealed in the latter days to us. There should be a reform in the Church in this regard, and a sentiment created in favor of honorable marriage, and that would prevent any young man, or any young woman, who is a mem- ber of the Church, from marrying except by that authority which issanctioned of God. And no man holding the Priesthood who is worthy and of age should remain unmarried. They should also teach that the law of chastity is one of nrost vital importance, both to children, and to men, and to women. It is a vitally important principle to the children of God in all their lives, from the cradle to the grave. God has fixed dreadful penalties against the transgression of his law of chastity, of virtue, of purity. When the law of God shall be in force among men, they will be cut off who are not absolutely pure and unsoiled and spotless —both men and women. We expect the women to be pure, we expect them to be spotless and without a blemish, and it is as necessary and important for man to be pure and virtuous as for woman; indeed, no woman would ever be other than pure if men were so. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the law of love, and love of God with the whole heart and mind is tne greatest commandment, and the next is like unto it, love thy neighbor as thyself. This also should be remem- bered in the marriage relation, for, while it is said that the desires of the woman shall be to her husband, and he shall rule over her, it is intended that that rule shall be in love and not in tyranny. God never rules tyrannically, except when men so corrupt them- selves that they are unfit to live. Then, and under such conditions, it is the story of all his dealings with mankind, that he sends judg- ments upon them and wipes them out and destroys them. To such an end would the doctrine of Tolstoi lead the individuals and the nations that put them into practice. On the contrary, it is mar- riage, sanctified and God-sanctioned, upon which glorified home is