MRS. EDDY ON MARRIAGE

Science and Health by Mary Baker Glover 1875 http://www.mbeinstitute.org/SAHI/1875ch6.htm

Since Joel left so very little about marriage, we are including this website for your reference as this was his training. You will find both versions of Science and Health. We have chosen the older, original version. The language is Victorian, but as Walter Starcke tells us, Joel was rather Victorian in his manners and attitudes.

That is not to say he was a prude or would not be able to address any kind of sin or temptation, human condition or marital discord, he just was not as candid, frank and indelicate as we are today. Keep in mind the time of Joel's upbringing, the "Leave-It-To-Beaver" social setting of the beginning era of The Infinite Way and we have very obtuse, but quite beautiful, instruction.

As difficult as some of you may find this, for you have to read antiquated language and deduce what Mrs. Eddy is saying, it is delightful and refreshing to not have to face the grossness of our current age when discussing sex, marriage, adultery and carnal temptations. I hope you will take your time and if led, go to the site above and read more yourself in the various passages on marriage and human conduct. We are very able to lift the world out of its current state of animalism and social conditioning. Please join us.

For those of you who may need help in interpreting some of Mrs. Eddy's lessons, the revised Science of Health may help.

"...The time cometh when marriage will be a union of hearts; and again, the time cometh when there will be no marrying or giving in marriage, but we shall be as the angels; the Soul rejoicing in its own mate wherein the masculine Wisdom and feminine Love are embrace in the understanding. Because progeny needs to be improved, let marriage continue, and permit no breaking down of law whereby a worse state of society is produced, than at present.

"Puritanical honesty and virture should be the stability of this covenant; Soul will ultimately claim its own, and the voices of personal sense be hushed. Marriage should be the school of virtue, and offspring the germ of man's highest nature. Christ, Truth, should be present at the altar, to turn the water into wine, giving inspiration to understanding, whereby man's spiritual origin and existence are discerned. If the foundations of affection are consistent with progress, its vows will be strong and enduring. Divorces inform the age that some fundamental error in this union is the source of its discord. To gain the science, hence the harmony of this relation, we should regard it more metaphysically and less physically.

"The broad-cast power of evil so conspicuous today, is the materialism of the age struggling against the spiritual era, that advances; beholding the world's lack of Christianity, and the powerlessness of promises to make good husbands or wives, mind will at length demand a higher affection, and ferment on this and many other subjects, until it settles down on an improved understanding. " - First edition Science and Health, pp. 322-23

Infidelity

http://www.mbeinstitute.org/SAHI/1875ch6.htm

In conjugal felicity, it is well to remember how fleeting are the joys of earth, and be grateful for them. In conjugal infelicity, separate not if there is no moral demand for this; far better &wait the logic of events, than for a wife precipitately to leave a husband, or a husband his wife, for if one is better than the other, this other pre-eminently needs good company. Socrates considered patience salutary under such circumstances, making his Xanthippe a discipline for his philosophy. Sorrow has its reward, and never leaves man where it found him; it is the furnace that separates the gold from the dross, and gives back the image of God. The cup our Father hath given, shall we not drink it? and learn the lesson He inculcates.

When the ocean is stirred by a storm, the clouds lower, the wind screams through the straitened canvas, and waves lift themselves to mountains, we ask the helmsman, "Do you know your course, and can you steer your vessel amid the storm?" Even the dauntless seaman is not sure of his fate, well knowing the science of navigation is not equal to the Science of God; but acting up to his highest understanding, firm at the post of duty, awaits the issue. Thus should we deport ourself in the seething ocean of sorrow, hoping and working, stick to the wreck, until the logic of events precipitates the doom, or sunshine gladdens the wave.

Domestic Prosperity

Frugality is essential to domestic prosperity, and so is affection; but to silence the voice of conscience to gain wealth, is trade without profit. The genius of woman shrinks from controversy with a knave, or a fool. A man respects the reputation of a woman, but a mouse will gnaw in the dark a spotless garment. Culture and refinement are not things of the toilet, but reflections of head and heart. Innocence is a gem, worn unconscious of pick-pockets. Husbands that dissipate care in the club, are poor stocks in ready markets. A husband is the best friend, or worst enemy of his wife. "Favor is deceitful, and beauty vain, but a woman of Wisdom, should be praised." A bad woman is a loathsome leprosy, dangerous to all that approach her. In marriage, avoid disparity in ages, tastes, or education, and make choice only of those qualities that wear well. Jealousy is the grave of affection; mistrust where confidence is due touches with mildew the flowers of Eden, and scatters to the four winds the leaves of love. A bridal altar is the verge of a new existence; wherein the old is fading out of the experience, to admit the new; two beings mingling into one; be not in baste to take the vow, "until death do us part," but consider well its obligations, responsibilities, and relations to all your future happiness; "judge before friendship, then confide till death."