Get Married and Marry Right

Get Married and Marry Right By Joseph S. Peery Get married, young man. All your ancestors have obeyed the first great commandment : "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth" (Genesis 1:28). Do not let the race die with you. Money and earthly rewards will not compensate for your neglect of sacred duty. All earthly possessions you leave behind. Your wife and children you may take with you, provided you comply with God's reasonable requirements. But remember, everything is governed by law. "There is a law ir- revocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated ; and when we ob- tain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated" (Doc. and Cov. 130:20). Through the atonement of the Savior all will be resur- rected from the grave, but our exaltation depends on merit. We get what we earn, and that is all we are entitled to receive. Young man, if you shirk the responsibility of married life here, there is not much hope for your kingdom hereafter. The Savior says, "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven" (Matthew 22:30). The angels here referred to are ministering servants (Doc. and Cov. 132). What are you work- ing for, young man? To be a servant unto others worthy of greater glory than you, or to be a king and a prince unto the Most High God? This is the life, time and place to marry. For a long time in the pre-existent life you looked ahead to this life when you could get married and have a posterity to bear your name. Is it possible that you are going to miss this great blessing now, when it is almost in your grasp ? If you refuse to take this bless- ing now, think of the eternal regret you will have when, on the other side, you realize what you have missed — what you might have done. Marry young. The happiest and most successful couples marry young. Do not wait until you are set in selfish habits. Do not wait for wealth. That fortune might ruin your family. Our fathers and mothers married in humble circumstances. Why not we do likewise? Our parents did not shirk the respon- sibility of having children. Why should we shirk? Their lot was many times harder than ours. Money will not make suc- cessful children, nor happy homes. Andrew Carnegie said, "The

126 IMPROVEMENT ERA worst thing that can befall a young man is to be left with plenty of money and nothing to do." Battling with difficulties develops men and women into splendid citizens. A life of list- less ease weakens. Do your duty and God will help you. Most important, when you marry get married right. Marry in the temple for time and all eternity. All marriages outside the temple are "for life only, until death does you part," and when death comes the marriage agreement ends. Young women who do not have suitable opportunity of marrying will be fully compensated, providing they live worthy lives. Young women who do marry are responsible with their husbands, if they refuse the blessing offered them of temple or eternal marriage. Young lady of Zion, you can largely determine whether you marry for time or for eternity. Do not let whimsical fashion keep you out of the temple and bar you from your greatest blessing. Fashion perishes with this life. Your choicest, dear- est possession is your husband and children. Is it possible that you do not want them forever? Young people, do not think you will do later on what you should do today. This life soon passes. Delays are dangerous, You may delay until your children are grown. Then it may be too late. If you are married for life only, let your first thought be to go to the temple and have the ceremony reconfirmed for time and all eternity. Do not delay until the next life, thinking that some one else will do for you by proxy what you refused to do for your- selves. They may forget you. Even if others do think more of your eternal happiness than you do yourselves, what as- surance have you that the blessing will be made up? The rev- elation on eternal marriage, Sec. 132, Doctrine and Covenants, is not comforting in regard to covering this neglect. Read it! Ponder it while yet you have time. To those who are obedient and marry in the temple, glo- rious rewards are offered. Here is one paragraph: "And they shall pass by the angels and the Gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever." (Doc. and Cov. 132:19.) They rise in the first resurrection and have eternal increase.