“This Is A Great Mystery”
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“As we begin our second study for husbands and wives, I want to direct your minds again to the Sanctuary. You remember that God had Moses look at the Sanctuary in Heaven in order to make one like it on earth. And our homes today are to be little sanctuaries, patterned after the dwelling place of God in Heaven. If God dwells with us in our homes here on earth, love dwells; for God is love. That means home can be a happy place. I want you to think of that sanctuary that Moses built. How many rooms were there in it? Two. What were the names? Holy place and most holy place. Was there anything around the sanctuary? What was that? The court. Could everybody come in the court? Who came in the court? The Israelites. Could all the Israelites go in the sanctuary? No. Who went in the sanctuary? The priests. No, not the Levites. Of course, the priests were part of the tribe of Levi. Could all the priests go in the most holy place? No. Who went in? The high priest, and he went in alone.”
“As we study the Christian home we find something very interesting in it. The home is, in a special sense, the place of love. There are some manifestations of love that belong to the world at large. There are other manifestations of love that belong especially within the church – the brotherhood and sisterhood of the church. There are other manifestations of love that belong within the family. And there are still other manifestations of love that belong alone to the husband and the wife. I would like to have you think of this special experience of love between the husband and the wife – the union of the husband and the wife – as the most holy place of the sanctuary of the home.”
“You remember that in Moses’ sanctuary, copied after the one in heaven, the center of the entire sanctuary service is the most holy place. You all recognize that. What is in that most holy place? The ark. What is in the ark? The ten commandments. I want to direct your attention to that law, because we have in these ten commandments two that deal especially with the home. In the fifth commandment we have the relationship between what? Parents and children. And in the seventh commandment we have the relationship between husband and wife. I want to study that seventh commandment with you, for it is fundamental to all our work in this series of classes.”
Thou shalt not commit adultery. – Exodus 20:14
“This is one of the shorter commandments of the ten, just five words, but full of meaning. We are familiar with that word, or with derivatives from the same root, in a number of uses. For instance, we hear about the adulteration of food. Here is something that is supposed to be grape jelly, and the inspectors find that it is mostly made of apples. That is considered adulteration and misbranding. I see there is considerable agitation at the present time about the composition of hamburgers. Well, that won’t worry us, but there is a lot of adulteration that takes place in these prepared meat products, from time to time. The idea of adulteration is that something is added that is not supposed to be there.”
“In the Christian home in the most holy place of the family, in the relationship between husband and wife, any third party introduced is adulteration. Any third party introduced there is adulteration. This is so common in the world today, that society more or less takes it for granted, and especially in its milder manifestations. But we must remember that the third angel’s message calls for a complete return to Bible religion, is that right? A complete return to the law of God. In fact, as Seventh-day Adventists we are known for our exaltation of this holy law. Is that correct? Should we be? Yes.”
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. – Revelation 14:12
“Notice it does not say, “Here are these that try to keep the commandments,” or “sometimes they keep them.” And it certainly doesn’t say, “Here are they that evade them and avoid them, and break them.” Here are they that what? Keep them. All of them? Now, we like to emphasize that, don’t we? All ten. All ten. And ninety-nine times out of a hundred when a Seventh-day Adventist says all ten, which one of the ten is he thinking of? The fourth. Well, that’s all right. The world is disregarding it.”
“But I want to tell you something, dear friends, the disregard for the seventh commandment today, is becoming almost as prevalent as the breaking of the fourth commandment. And the true people of God, more and more as we approach the end, are going to be singular, peculiar, by their observance of the fifth and seventh commandments, just as they are singular and peculiar because of their observance of the fourth commandment. It is a rare thing today, referring to the fifth commandment, to find children that are obedient to their parents, isn’t it? Very rare. And so today it is a rare thing to find people, husband and wife, who are fully keeping the seventh commandment.”
“You may wonder that I make such a statement. I am not referring just to the outward breaking of the commandment in adultery, fornication, physical union outside of marriage, although the Lord knows there is plenty of that. But as we are going to study, the seventh commandment deals with the whole question of exclusive love.”
“You will remember in our last study, we found that the great purpose of God in giving us these various human relationships – parents and children, brothers and sisters, husband and wife, and these other intimate human relationships – His great purpose is what? That we may know Him. You remember that statement in Steps to Christ“:
Through … the deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know, He has sought to reveal Himself to us. – Steps to Christ, pg. 10
“And you remember that we noted that God is revealed to us as a Father, and He even compares His love to the love of a mother. Jesus is our elder brother. And in these different relationships we get acquainted with God. But now tell me something, friends. Can a father and a mother have more than one child and still love two, three, four, five, six? And listen, you folks that have had the experience, when you have had one child and poured out all your love on that child, and the Lord gives you another one, does the second child get half as much? Is that the way it works? And when the third one comes, does that one get just a third of the total? Is that the way it is? Do you mean that God has arranged it that even though there is more than one child, that each one can get all the love of your heart?”
“Now, I have said that, to say this: in the marriage relation we have something diametrically opposed to that; precisely opposite to it. God can say to a father and mother, “Here is one child or two or three or half a dozen.” I was in a home not long ago that had ten children. I tell you there was a crowd of them there. They were all getting loved and doing fine under it. But listen. God can say that to parents with children. And brothers and sisters can enjoy having a number of fellows, colleagues. But oh, when we come to this particular relationship of the husband and wife, God says, “They two shall be one.” Now you remember, (you can put down in your notes) Matthew 19:4-6. I will just refer to it now. Jesus said”:
… He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. – Matthew 19:4-6
“My point is: He says “They twain.” What does twain mean? Two. And it is one man and one woman. And they two shall be what? One. That is it. This is illustrated in a very definite way in the actual union of the two cells in conception. I think most of you, perhaps all of you, are familiar with the beginning of life. The male cell, the sperm, unites with the female cell, the ovum, and those two cells – one coming from the father and one from the mother – unite to form what? One cell. This is a mysterious and marvelous thing in nature. Those two become one. And this is very interesting.”
This is what takes place in the union of two hearts in the marriage relation. Just as two bodies are joined in this physical union of marriage, two hearts, two minds, two spirits are blended and they become what? One. Oh, my dear friends, this is the wonderful mystery that we are studying.
This is a great mystery. – Ephesians 5:32
“Paul says. And it is – how two can become one, and two, shall I say, so dissimilar? For can you think of anything more different than a man and a woman? This is the great mystery of God, that He can take something as different as a woman and a man, and something as different from a man as a woman, and put those two together and say, “Now, I want you to blend and become one.” But it is two that are to become one, not three or four. In many races and nations and cultures and religions, down through six thousand years, all sorts of perversions of that have been carried out. We have polygamy in its various manifestations. Now we have what someone has called consecutive polygamy of divorce. Pitiful. Terrible. All of this perverts and distorts and mars the image of God. It fogs the whole pattern so men do not see the glories of the heavenly temple.”
“They two shall be one – that is the positive statement. Thou shalt not commit adultery – this is the negative statement of that same principle. You see that? They two shall be one – Thou shalt not commit adultery. So the law of God stands as a great hedge, to protect us from the breaking down of the home. We will notice a statement on this”:
There is a sacred circle around every family which should be preserved. – Adventist Home, pg. 177
“What was there in front of the most holy place? A veil. What did that veil say? “Come in”? No. It said, “Stay out.” Who could come in? How many? Just one. In another lesson I want to study these veils of the sanctuary with you, and their meaning in the Christian home today. But just now notice that in the most holy place of the Christian home, in this union of the husband and the wife, around every family there is a what? There is a circle. What kind of a circle? A sacred circle. What is another word for sacred? Holy. I have been interested, recently, in how many times those words, sacred and holy, are used, with reference to the home and to the marriage relation – the union of the husband and wife. We are dealing with something sacred.”
“And right at this point let me say what I am sure you all recognize. The world today has become so filthy and sordid and base and lewd and licentious and lascivious that it is hard to find any mind that has a perfectly pure concept of the relationship between man and woman hard to find. But I bring you good news, my friends. God is in the washing business. We hear of people being brain-washed. That is what we need. We need brain-washing in the true sense, the right sense. We need to have our minds thoroughly emptied and cleansed of every impure concept of the relationship between the husband and the wife.”
“The thing that makes this relationship impure is when it is carried on outside the home; between partners who have no business with each other, and as we shall see in other lessons, it can be anything but sacred in the home if we lose the presence of God. And I will study that with you in another lesson. But my point is this: In the ideal Christian home, the physical union of marriage – the union between the husband and wife – is a pure, holy, sacred experience, and belongs in the sanctuary of the home, in the most holy. But it does not belong to anybody else. It belongs to just one man with just one woman. But there are many things that lead to the full physical union, and that cluster around it, that alike belong just to those two. This is love, as I say, in an exclusive manifestation.”
No other one has any right inside this sacred circle. – Adventist Home, pg. 177
“You mean nobody can come in that sacred circle? Nobody is supposed to. And I can tell you this, friends, whenever a third party does come in, there is nothing sacred about it. That is the devil. I don’t care how well he or she is dressed. I don’t care how sweet and honeyed are the words. That is the devil – any third party entering there. This is exclusive love.”
No other one has any right in this sacred circle. The husband and wife should be all to each other. – Adventist Home, pg. 177
“We are getting into this mystery that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 5. Do you mean that to the husband there is only one woman in all the world That’s it. Do you mean that to the wife there is only one man in all the world? That’s it. Just one. Do you remember what you said the day you were married? The minister said, “Will you, John Jones, take this woman, Mary Smith, to be your wedded wife, to live with her after God’s ordinance in the holiest state of matrimony? Will you love her, honor her, cherish her, and forsaking all others, keep you only unto her, as long as you both shall live? Do you thus promise?” And what did you say? “I do.”
“You know I have thought about it, friends, and I don’t mean to be ridiculous, but I would like to make somebody think. Do you know there is many a man that stands at the altar and hears the preacher ask that question who, if he were honest, would have to say, “Preacher, to tell you the truth, I don’t know if I can or not. I have never tried it. I have gone with anyone I pleased, and gone about as far as they let me. I have never been true to any one person for any great length of time. My eyes have wandered here and there. My hands have wandered here and there. And do you mean, preacher, that you are asking me to stand here before God and these witnesses, and promise that I will take this girl, just one girl, and forsake all others? And this has got to be for life, as long as I live? Isn’t that asking a lot?”
“It is asking a lot, friends. It is asking more than a lot. It is asking everything. And how many glibly say, “I do,” little thinking of all that is involved? Do you think it would be a good thing for us to re-think our vows? And I want to tell you something, friends. The fact that ten million people break the Sabbath every week doesn’t give me the slightest license to break God’s holy law, does it? And the fact that ten million people commit adultery, either with their bodies or their eyes, their minds, every day, doesn’t give me the slightest license. And not only that, friends, if I have even begun to understand the mystery, God knows, I don’t want to. Why should I? Oh, friends, the more we study this thing, the more we see how beautiful God’s plan is.”
“Now, I want you to meditate with me on why it is and how it is that God has arranged this matter of exclusive love in the marriage relation. I know there is love between parents and children, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors, and all that. That all has its place. But in what we are studying, this is a type of love different from all the others, isn’t it? And in this type of love there is just one with one. That is an exclusive love.”
“The purpose of all this is that we may know whom? God. The question may arise, how could an exclusive relationship of this kind cause us to know God? Well, I want to ask you something. Is there a place in your heart that nobody but God is to fill? Is that right? You can see that part of it, can’t you? Did we read in Ephesians 5, [last study*] “Husbands, love your wives even as what? Christ loved the church” How many lords, how many leaders does the church have? Just one. How many leaders does the true wife have? Just one.”
“Now, the thing that may perplex us a little is the fact that Jesus has a personal relationship with each one of His children, in that He is like a father with children. But let me explain to you, if I can, how it is that this union of the husband and wife can represent this exclusive love of Christ with the individual.”
The relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth. – Steps to Christ, pg. 100
“You see, God is infinite. You and I are finite. There is no limit to God. And that means that you and God can have a relationship as though you were the only one in all the universe. And yet I can have a relationship between God and me, as if I were the only one. It is an exclusive love between God and me. Nobody else shares it in its innermost depths. By the way, friends, and more than by the way, are you entering into that personal fellowship with God? Do you know what that means to revel in a love that belongs to you and you alone?”
I want to give you a little picture there of this. I love this.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. – Revelation 2:17
“Notice the individuality of this. When you get to heaven, God is going to give you what? A white stone, and in the stone what? A new name written which what? No man knows save you. This is the mystery. This is a mystery. Nobody else will ever know it.”
“I come back to this union between the husband and wife, which is to give us in this wonderful experience of exclusive love some understanding of this exclusive relationship between the soul and Christ. One of the ways of manifesting love is through a pet name. Some of you know what I am talking about.And this is what Jesus is talking about in this verse. I love to think about it. When I get home there, and Jesus and I walk down by the River of Life, He is going to give me that white stone, and He is going to start calling me that new name, and I mean it very reverently – that pet name. Nobody else in all heaven is going to have that name. Nobody else in all the universe will understand it. It is just a name that is used between me and Jesus. Do you see what I mean, friends?”
“And oh, dear ones, dear husband and dear wife, as you commune together in the most holy place of the home, as you share your inmost thoughts with each other and your two hearts blend, you are to have an experience of exclusive love, that nobody else in this world knows anything about. And don’t try to tell them, because you can’t. There are some things about it, it would be sacrilege to try to. Oh, no. This is an experience that you can have. I want every one of you to have it. Each couple will have it differently. That is what we are studying here. That is all right.”
“You two, made for each other, are to blend in a union like which there is no other. You two, with your particular quirks of mind, with your peculiar tastes, the things you like and do not like, the way you express things; you two, by the Holy Spirit, are to be adapted for each other, blended together, and have an experience, an exclusive love, that nobody else knows anything about. Go into the most holy place within the veil and there, alone with each other, and with the holy light of God’s love, seek to know the mystery. Seek to know each other. Seek to understand each other.”
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. – 1 Peter 3:7
“Oh, this verse will bear a lot of study. I want to study it more fully with you in another lesson. One of the modern translations puts that clause this way, “Try to understand the wives you live with.” Ah, husband, does your wife baffle you, sometimes? Well, she probably baffles herself, sometimes. But this is to be, not a dead end, not a blind alley, but a challenge. After all, God has not given you the job of understanding a thousand women. He has given you the great privilege and opportunity of understanding one. That will keep you busy. It is a lifetime job.”
“Well, it is the other way around, dear women. I am sure that we, men, baffle and disappoint and all that, many times. But I will tell you, if a loving wife, down on her knees, says, “Dear Lord, help me to understand my husband,” because love and understanding go together, don’t they? Yes.”
Now, back to our seventh commandment. What does it say?
Thou shalt not commit adultery. – Exodus 20:14
“Don’t try to enter into that close relationship not merely in body, but in mind and soul, with somebody else. Don’t. God will help you do it with the one you are supposed to. If anybody helps you do it with somebody else, you know who it will be. Who is it? The devil. Exactly the same process of blending mind with mind can go on in one case, under the influence of the Spirit of God, and in another case, under the influence of Satan. And, oh, friends, if it were not so serious and so tragic, it would be interesting to watch the process by which mind is brought close to mind, and heart to heart, in so many apparently innocent ways. I haven’t time to go into that… But I will tell you, the time to prevent an accident is before it happens. And the time to prevent these divorces and these affairs that lead to divorces, is before they ever get started, my friends.”
“Let me be honest with you. The great reason for having this experience that prevents all that, is not to prevent the divorce or the broken home. Oh, no. That isn’t the great reason. The great reason, friends, is that we may know God; that we may enter into the delights, the privileges, the experiences of exclusive love. Now, let me tell you what I think, on this subject, is one of the most wonderful books in all the Bible. It is the Song of Solomon. Would you turn to that now? The Song of Solomon. Some people do not know what to do with the Song of Solomon. Well, is it a part of the Bible? And Paul says all scripture, is what? Given by inspiration of God, and is what? Profitable. What does profitable mean? Worthwhile. It is profitable for doctrine. Doctrine means teaching.”
“We are teaching a class here for husbands and wives, and the Song of Solomon is one of the great books for husbands and wives. In fact, that is who it is written for. That is exactly who it is written for. The Song of Solomon is an inspired love song. But it is not a love song of sentimental adolescence. Oh, no. It is the song of love between the bridegroom and the bride. I commend it to your study. You know, not every verse in the Bible was written to be preached from on the Sabbath day, from the pulpit. You recognize that, don’t you? The Bible was written for every experience of life. There are some things that belong in the intimate circle, the sacred circle that we read about here in Adventist Home. And the Song of Solomon has many precious things.”
“I will be honest with you. There are many things in this book I don’t understand. But I have made up my mind, sometime since, that in the study of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, I was never going to let what I didn’t understand keep me from getting the benefit out of what I could understand. Don’t you think that is a good principle? Why, yes. We do that all the time in other things. We take a prune or a date and we begin to eat on it. Pretty soon we hit what? A pit. And it is what? Hard. Do we try to chew it up? No. Well, do we say, “No more dates for me? No more prunes for me?” Why, we just quietly put it on the plate and we don’t make any fuss about it either, do we? No, we just quietly put it down and go on enjoying the sweetness of that part of the fruit which seems made for us. Right?”
“That is the way to do with the Bible, friends. You may find that something you have to put on the plate today, eventually opens up to you, and it is just as sweet as honey and clear as sunlight. But we are all children in our understanding. The wisest of us have only been here a few years. Enoch walked with God three hundred years, you remember. So you and I have not been at it very long, have we? So it is not surprising if there is much we do not understand.”
“Let me say about this Song of Solomon, that while it represents the union between Christ and His church, it is not just an allegory. It is not just a parable. It is an actual love song, talking about the actual experience of exclusive love between the bridegroom and the bride. That is what it is about. And people who look upon it merely as a parable or an allegory are missing the blessing that could come to them in knowing what it means in the Christian home, in the holy of holies, in the mystery of exclusive love between the bridegroom and the bride. You know, many songs have a refrain, a chorus, that is repeated from time to time. This song does, and I want you to see it”:
My beloved is mine, and I am his. – Song of Solomon 2:16
“In the Song of Solomon, we have dialogue. Sometimes the bridegroom is speaking. Sometimes the bride is speaking. Who is speaking in this verse? The bride. How do you know? She says, “I am his.”
“This is the refrain of this song. I can understand this, and it is sweet, friends.I want to tell you something. God has put something in every husband’s heart that he longs to know that his wife belongs to him and him alone. And equally true, God has put something into every true husband’s heart that thrills him to know that he belongs to that little woman and to her alone. This is something of this deep mystery of love which only the initiated know. And there is nothing else like it in the human experience because as I have shown you, there are other types of love which are shared and can be shared, may be shared, should be shared, perhaps. But this? No.”
Thou shalt not commit adultery. – Exodus 20:14
My beloved is mine, and I am his. – Song of Solomon 2:16
Oh, friends, this is something of the mystery.
Now, go back to your Adventist Home and I want you to notice this:
The home circle should be regarded as a sacred place, a symbol of heaven, a mirror in which to reflect ourselves. Friends and acquaintances we may have, but in the home life they are not to meddle. A strong sense of proprietorship should be felt, giving a sense of ease, restfulness, trust. – Adventist Home, pg. 177
Oh, this is beautiful, friends. Did you get it? You won’t get it all with one reading. Study it alone on your knees. Study it together in the inner circle, husband and wife together.
“What is another name for a sacred place? The sanctuary. The holy place. And this is the most holy place. What was the sanctuary Moses made? A copy of the things in heaven. That is what your home is to be. Now notice”:
Friends and acquaintances we may have, but in the home life they are not to meddle.
“I wonder what that means. Ah, my dear friends, how many people lift the veil and invite the stranger in. And I don’t care how close the stranger may be in other areas of life, in this he is not to what? He is not to meddle. And then that last sentence”:
A strong sense of proprietorship should be felt, giving a sense of ease, restfulness, trust. – Adventist Home, pg. 177
“I looked up the word proprietor in the dictionary. Do you know what it say? “A person having the exclusive title to anything.” Well. Do you have the exclusive title to something? You do, if you are married. Yes. You men, do you have the exclusive title to anything? What is it? Your wife. But that is only half of it. What about you, women? Are you a proprietor, too? Or did you know it? Do you have the exclusive title to something? What is it? Your husband. I want you to see this in the very plainest language. We will study some of the verses in this chapter [Song of Solomon] more particularly in future lessons. But right now, I want to get this point settled – who owns the husband, who owns the wife, who is the proprietor in your home”:
The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. – 1 Corinthians 7:4
“Look at that, friends. It isn’t merely that somebody outside doesn’t own you. You don’t own yourself. Who does own you? Your companion. If you are a wife, who is your proprietor? Your husband. Did you know that? That is what it means to be married. And if you don’t know that, and revel in it, then you don’t know the mystery. You haven’t been initiated. Husband, your wife is your proprietor.”
“Somebody says, “Be practical, Brother Frazee. How could there be two proprietors in one little home?” Well, I will tell you frankly, there is only one way it will work; only one way it was ever intended to work. That is with love.”
There are a lot of cars in a parking lot. There is not one of them that will work without gasoline. They were not built to run without gasoline. That is nothing against them, is it? Why, no. This thing of having two proprietors in the home works fine, friends, provided there is love. But believe me, it surely won’t work without it. It was never intended to.
Now, back to our Song of Solomon. We are on the refrain, the keynote of the song:
My beloved is mine, and I am his. – Song of Solomon 2:16
“I cannot read your mind, and I am glad I can’t. I don’t need to. Jesus does. But I want to tell you something, if you read that, and to you it is the echoes of the sweetest memories and the pledge of the most glorious future, then I congratulate you. You have found the pearl of great price. But if what we are reading here sounds a bit sentimental and not very realistic, then I invite you, friends, come and learn the mystery. And when I say come, I don’t mean just to this class. All this class can do is to let you know that there is such a thing. Do you know where you will find it? You will find it in the most holy place. You will find it on your knees with God and with your companion.”
Now, [last class], you remember at the close, I gave you a laboratory assignment. I gave you a text. What did it say?
If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. – Matthew 18:19
I hope you all took hold of that… What did you agree, husband and wife? What did you agree that you were going to pray for?
“Let me ask you something, if Jesus should appear to you personally, just the two of you husband and wife together – and tell you that you could have anything that the two of you would agree to ask for, you surely wouldn’t decide to ask for something from the dime store, would you? Would you? You wouldn’t let a chance like that go by. Ah, ask for something big. And I can tell you this, I can think of nothing bigger that you could ask for and that is this: that you might know God by knowing each other. That you might know the love of God by knowing the love of each other. That you might enter into this exclusive love which nobody shares but the two who receive it, fresh from the fountain head. Ah, my dear husband and wife, glorious possibilities are yours.“
“But, ah, dear ones, I talked about the dime store. You can get things pretty cheap down there, but you don’t bring them home and put them in the safe and lock them up for fear somebody would steal them, do you? No. If what we are talking about is as valuable as heaven presents it, listen, it is going to cost something. It is true it is a gift, but it is given to those who seek. The world is not going to help you find it, not a bit of it. Do you remember what Paul said in Philippians 3?”
What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung. – Philippians 3:7-10
“Refuse, garbage, manure, all those words are used in translating. The vilest refuse, I count everything else. What for? That I may know Him. Ah, friends, to know God is worth putting aside everything that would hinder. And if God has given you in this holy state of matrimony the opportunity to know Him, in this special, peculiar way of exclusive love, wouldn’t it be the thing to do to put aside anything that would hinder? Wouldn’t it be a good thing to build those walls high, instead of tearing them down that sacred circle, the barriers of reserve? Wouldn’t it be a good thing to not merely shut out the world, but to shut in to each other, and there learn to pour out to each other and for each other the fullness of love?”
“Ah, dear ones, a lot of us need to learn how to love, just to love somebody. To master this, I know, is the experience of a lifetime. But every grade in the school is sweet, and each one gets sweeter yet – to just love somebody in this particular, exclusive way. Husband, don’t be afraid to love your wife. Don’t be afraid to put your arm around her and tell her you love her more than once a week, more than once a day. Oh, you do it your way. No need to be a parrot or a tape recorder. Oh, no. It must come out of your heart. But I will tell you something. Joints keep limber if they are used. Muscles get strong if they are used. Learn to express love where it ought to be expressed, and to the one to whom it should be expressed. Likewise, you, wives.”
“Down on your knees ask God. Agree together. Say, “Dear Lord, we know something of this.” I am sure all of you know something of it. What I am trying to put before you is the fact that there is an ocean beyond. There is a lot more than you have ever known. It didn’t die with the wedding march. Oh, no. It is to be sweeter, richer, better as time goes on. And so there alone with God and each other, seek to catch that glory from the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary – the glory of love – and reflect it to each other.”
“Precious Lord, rightly interpret to our hearts these wonderful things from Thy book. And may each husband and wife… know as never before the mystery of this exclusive love. May each one be able to sing with that inspired song, I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. And thus may we know Thee in a sweeter, clearer way. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.”
-Continue on to the next study-
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* This study has been adapted from classes taken by Elder W.D. Frazee.