Experience, in our own times, proves exactly the
reverse. Dereliction of duty with regard to home duties results much
more frequently from devotion to fashionable pleasures--considered quite
allowable and _womanly_--than from the pursuit of literature.
That marriage was designed by the Creator for the mutual benefit, help,
and happiness of those entering into that relation, there can be no
doubt; but, through the selfishness of man--helped on by the fact that,
like the partner referred to previously, he was physically the stronger
of the two--the gracious purposes of the Creator were lost sight of, or
_ignored._ And God suffered it so to be, for the time, just as he did
other forms of slavery and outcrying sins of various kinds.
It has been said that the marriage ceremonies and festivals were as
various as the several nations in which they were performed. A
description of a few of these may not be uninteresting.
Among the Jews, the period of betrothal having expired, the marriage was
celebrated by a feast, the bride being arrayed as magnificently as her
circumstances would allow. If the contracting parties were distinguished
personages, the ceremony was frequently celebrated at night, the bridal
party, carrying their lamps or torches with them, going forth in
procession to meet and do honor to the bridegroom.
With the Romans, the consent of the father or guardian of the maiden
having been obtained, a sacrifice was prepared.
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