Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/198

192 of the divine institution of marriage, will be found to be intimately connected with the best Christian nurture, and the fullest development of the Christian life and character. For the starting-point in the noblest human growth, and the chief centre of influence in the most advanced civilization, is unquestionably the family institution. And this institution can never become what God intended it should be—the birthplace and nursery of angels—save in the degree that it receives the enlightening and warming beams of the spiritual Sun; and the measure in which these beams are received, will depend on the degree in which husbands and wives understand and acknowledge the source and nature of true marriage, and on their mutual fidelity in the discharge of its sacred obligations.

It cannot be denied that an important change in the popular estimate of woman, has taken place throughout Christendom during the last hundred years. She has come to be thought of and treated more as the equal of man—more as the inspirer of his best thoughts and noblest deeds, and the equal partner in, and sharer of, his burdens, trials, duties and responsibilities. To fit her for this higher sphere, the opportunities for broader culture and higher education are everywhere beginning to be offered her. The doors of our best colleges and highest schools of learning, are being