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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 irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain 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 resurrected 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 working 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 blessing 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 responsibility of having children. Why should we shirk? Their lot was many times harder than ours. Money will not make successful children, nor happy homes. Andrew Carnegie said, "The 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 listless 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.