Martin Madan on the marriage institution...

[Paul not the apostle]

From what has been said, it appears, that marriage, as instituted of God, simply consists (as to the essence of it) in the union of the man and the woman as one body; for which plain and evident reason, no outward forms or ceremonies of man’s invention, can add to or diminish from the effects of this union in the sight of God. What ends these things may serve, as to civil purposes, I shall not dispute: But I cannot suppose that the matrimonial service in our church, or any other, can make the parties more one flesh in the sight of God, supposing them to have been united, than the burial service can make the corpse over which it is read more dead than it was before.

…It is not man, but God, which makes the twain one flesh; neither is it man’s ordinance, but God’s institution, which brings that to pass.

I very much enjoy the writings of Martin Madan, and enjoy the style and intellect contained in them, mainly because I have so little of either. I thought I would share.