The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-06-06
Ahe Marriage Relation slS DeHn ed
by Rev. Dr. ~. a. Holland.

st Louis Globe-Democratj
The Rev. r. A Holland delivered a
sermon on Marriage" to a fashionable
audience, at St. Georges Episcopal
Church, last night, taking for his text
the words, "For this cause shall man
leave his father and mother, and shall be
Joined unto MS wife, and they two shall
be one flesh. (Eph. Y. 81 He said:
1t is sad sign of our times that mar
riage should be thought of and talked
about with so much levity. 1t is only
regarded as a thing of passing show, as
subject for light gossip, or,a at best, as a le-
gal, contract and, at that very much in the
nature of lottery. But, in the estima-
ton of the Church, the marriage rite can
never be so held. 1t is one Of the most
sacred ordinances Of our religion. 1t has
the nature of a sacrament; indeed, | be
leve that in its essence it is sacramental,
for, Judging the Church by the formulas
she has appointed for the marriage Of her
children, it seems to me that this union
is spiritual, and can only be made adght
as it is done under a solemn sense of the
presence of God and Of responsibility
under his law For marriage is not, as
partnership between two persons, either
for Lart or the whole of life. In mar
riage, the two become one. There Is an
exchange Of personality, or | may even
better say, there is formed ont Of these
two distinct personalities third, which
is the same as both, and yet not the
samoa veritable trinity almost divine.
1t pertains to the nature of marriage,
that the man should, as he vows he does
in The act, give himself to his wife, not
merely his property, his time, his atten-
ton, his regard, but his veritable and
entire self, in exchange for which he re
ceives herself And now in this wedlock
the relations of the two people together
become one. They are to each other not
as they are to the rest of the world.
There is III the union a new character.
The two coming together make
COMPLETE AND PERFECT WHOLE.
How this union is to be found is a ques-
ton | cannot solve. 1t is question the
answer to which we understand better
than we can explain. 1t is indeed a
mystery; one Of those things which phil
osophV itself has not fathomed, this
strange, TINS heApltcdbie COn5enIhIIIy
between persons, this rushing together by
most marvellous magnetism of spirits,
this finding each other out through all
the DISCUSSES under which Individuals
dress themselves in society, so that when
the two meet they have met i'll a union
which has Cancelled their former disunion
and they are one. The apostle himself
speaks of 1t as a mystery, as great even
as the mystic union OF Christ with his
Church.
Here DR.. Holland pointed out three
features of true marriage: 1t must be
monogamic. 1t is impossible that there
should be Il true marriage of one man to
more than one woman, for the exchange
must be mutual and equal. 1t must be
total surrender Of each to the other,
and there can be no such surrender when
a mans affection and personality are
divided between two, three or four
women. Hence, in polygamy there is
an unfair exchange, a false exchange,
which is a cheat and fraud in its very
nature, and false marriage in the eyes
of heaven,