Philosophy of marriage

by Dr. Peter Marshall, (pastor and Chaplain for the U.S. Senate from 1947-1949) taken from the book A Man Called Peter. pp. 64-65

"Marriage is not a federation of two sovereign states. It is a union-

domestic

social

spiritual

physical.

it is a fusion of two hearts-

the union of two lives-

the coming together of two tributaries,

which, after being joined in marriage, will flow in the same channel in the same direction....

carrying the same burdens of responsibility and obligation.

Modern girls argue that they have to earn an income, in order to establish a home, which would be impossible on their husband's income.

That is sometimes the case, but it must always be viewed as a regrettable necessity, never as the normal or natural thing for a wife to have to do.

The average woman, if she gives her full time to her home

her husband,

her children....

If she tries to understand her husband's work...

to curb his egotism while, at the same time, building up his self-esteem.

to kill his masculine conceit while encouraging all his hopes

to establish around the family a circle of true friends....

If she provides in the home a proper atmosphere of culture

of love of music

of beautiful furniture

and of a garden....

If she can do all this, she will be engaged in a life work that will demand every once of her strength

every bit of her patience

every talent God has given her

the utmost sacrifice of her love.

It will demand everything she has and more.

And she will find that for which she was created.

She will know that she is carrying out the plan of God.

And so, today's daughters need to think twice before they seek to make a place for themselves by themselves in our world today..."

The response of his future wife,Catherine, in her journal was "He still places women on such a pedestal, much as my father's generation did, and seems quite old-fashioned in some ways-especially toward marriage and the home..."

In her biography of him she wrote, " Like the rest of young America, I would never have taken the philosophy of marriage Peter advocated from any of the older generation, but we took it from him, liked it, and came back for more.

Was it possible, I wondered, under the stimulus of his thinking, that women in seeking careers of their own, were seeking emancipation from their own God-given natures, and so were merely reaping inner conflict: Could this be one of the basic reasons for the failures of so many marriages today?..."

Catherine Marshall's biography of her husband, was an immediate best seller and sold more than one million copies after his untimely death in 1949. A film by the same name as the book was released in 1955.