This commandment is God's bulwark around marriage and the home.
Marriage is one of the institutions that existed in Eden; it is older
than the fall. It is the most sacred relationship that can exist
between human beings, taking precedence even of the relationship of
the parent and child. Some one has pointed out that as in the
beginning God created one man and one woman, this is the true order
for all ages. Where family ties are disregarded and dishonored, the
results are always fatal. The home existed before the church, and
unless the home is kept pure and undefiled, there can be no family
religion and the church is in danger. Adultery and licentiousness have
swept nation after nation out of existence. Did it not bring fire and
brimstone from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah? What carried Rome into
ruin? The obscene frescoes and statues at Pompeii and Naples tell the
tale. Where there is no sacredness around the home, population
dwindles; family virtues disappear; the children are corrupt from
their very birth; the seeds of sure decay are already planted. In 1895
there were twenty-five thousand divorces in this country. I was on one
of the fashionable streets of a prominent city some time ago, where
every family except two in the whole street had either a son or a
daughter that had been divorced. Divorce and debauchery go hand in
hand. We are not gaining much in turning away from this old law, are
we?