Manuscript 170, 1905
 

[Remarks at the wedding of Dores E. Robinson and Ella M. White, Sanitarium, California, May 1, 1905.]
 

This is an important period in the history of the ones who have stood before you to unite their interests, their sympathies, their love, their labor, with each other in the ministry of the saving of souls. In the marriage relation there is a very important step taken--the blending of two lives into one.
 

I am highly gratified with this choice. I have confidence that the Lord sanctions this union, and that it is in accord with the will of God that man and wife should be linked together in His work, to carry it forward in a wholeness and a holiness. They can do this.
 

The blessing of God in the home where this union shall exist is as the sunshine of heaven, because it is the Lord's ordained will that man and wife should be linked together in holy bonds of union, under Jesus Christ, with Him to control, and His Spirit to guide--His Holy Spirit to listen to the petitions that shall come up to Him. Where two or three, He says, are together, I am in their midst.
 

God wants the home to be the happiest place on earth, the very symbol of the home in heaven. Bearing the marriage responsibilities in the home, linking their interests with Jesus Christ, leaning upon His arm and His assurance, husband and wife may share a happiness in this union that angels of God commend.
 

Marriage does not lessen their usefulness, but strengthens it. They may make that married life a ministry to win souls to Christ. I know whereof I speak, because for 36 years my husband and myself were united, and we went everywhere that the Lord said Go.
 

In this matter we know that we have the commendation of God in the marriage relation. Therefore, it is a solemn ordinance. It has always seemed to me so very inappropriate to see the marriage ordinance associated with hilarity and glee and a pretense of something. No; it is an ordinance ordained of God, to be looked upon with the greatest solemnity. As the family relation is formed here below, it is to give a demonstration of what they shall be, the family in heaven above. The glory of God is ever to be made first.
 

And now I can at this time take by the hand this our brother whom we love in the Lord--he has our confidence--and we take by the hand you, his wife, and urge you to carry on the work of God unitedly. I would say, Make God your Counselor. Blend, blend together. You each have an identity of your own, but in that identity there must be a unity. There is constantly to be a development of the faculties that God has given you, that you may improve, and that you may indeed be looked upon by the heavenly angels with commendation. We care more for that than everything else beside. Let the light of heaven shine right in the home--and we believe it will--in every word and in every action.
 

You are not called to give up your identity; you each have an identity of your own. These may not always run in the very same channel, and yet there may be that blending that God required. The husband is the houseband, the husband, the priest of the household, and the wife is the teacher, as she shall fill her place in the household, whatever may be her employment. If she has children to nurse and take care of, let me tell you there is a lesson there, oh, such a lesson, that God wants everyone to learn. The wife, united with the husband in the fear of God, is to be a strength and power in the church. God can make them thus.
 
 

Well, then, how shall they blend? Counsel together. And if there be any difference of opinion, yet we would say, Counsel together, and the blessing of God will come right into the heart.
 

Christ was at the marriage in Cana. There He worked the miracle of turning the water into wine. Our Saviour ever honored the marriage relation, and we want to say, wherever you may be, and whatever your circumstances may be, We have a God, One who loves us, One whom we can honor. If we would honor Him, our lips should ever speak in wisdom. Here is the wife, the queen of the home--the blessing of God can rest upon her that she may be a sunshine, a sunbeam, in the house. Never, never, in any way, speak in a manner that would irritate. The voice is a talent; it is a talent of God. It is to be so cultivated that it will bring peace and harmony and light and love.
 

Here are these [two] who are covenanted to the work of God. A great work is before us. Where their ministry will be we cannot say, but united they can carry forward the work much better than separately. They can help one another; they can encourage one another; they can be a blessing to one another; and the Holy Spirit of God can rest on them as they bear the ministry to those who shall need their help.
 

Both have an experience in this line; both feel an intense interest to cultivate to the very best and highest account the ability of talents which God has given to them. If they are connected with the God of heaven, what a power they can be unitedly to blend together, to strengthen one another, and to carry forward the work of God intelligently.
 

I am very thankful today that I believe the Lord is present in this very assembly to accept this ordinance of marriage, and we thank you all that are here that you are present. We want to say to every one of you, There is a very great and a very grand work before us. We cannot discern it now. Time steals on, steals on so gradually, and the powers of darkness, like a thief, are watching their chance, that they may make all the evil possible.
 

Now we are as men and women to stand in our allotted place, with the whole armor of righteousness on. To him that--what? Gives up to the powers of darkness and yields to very influence? No; to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne. Now here is the work of overcoming. These [two] do not give up this work, but they are blended together to strengthen themselves in the work, and to go wherever the light of heaven shall shine upon their pathway.
 

We believe God will lead them; therefore, we are fully in harmony with this unity, and we believe heaven is in harmony with it. Therefore, these young people who have worked in the cause of God, who have tried to do His work, can now double their influence, increase their capabilities and their talents, by blending in the work of God. It is not a lesser work that is before them, but it is a higher, it is a more sacred, it is a more important work that they will have to do in the future than in the past. May the blessing of God rest upon them right here.
 

I feel that it would be a privilege for me to bow, right here in this company, and plead with the Lord that His blessing may go with them. I know not when I shall see them again; perhaps never after I leave here. I am in my seventy-eighth year, and yet God has spared my life. There is a great work for us to perform, and I want that every one of us shall feel the importance of laying hold of that work intelligently, with hand put to hand, mind to mind, strength to strength, power to power, to carry forth the work of God, to seek and to save perishing souls. A little longer, and He that is to come will come, and will not tarry. I want to offer a prayer here in this congregation before I shall leave.
 
 

[Praying] My gracious heavenly Father, I come to Thee at this time because Thou hast invited us. Thou hast said, Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Now, my heavenly Father, I ask Thee, when difficulties and trials and opposition that they may have to meet in the work shall come, may they remember this threefold representation--asking, seeking, knocking--with the assurance that they shall be heard, and that the blessing of God will come to them.
 

We believe Thee, our Lord Jesus; we trust in Thee. We are so grateful that Thou hast thought upon us, and that Thou hast left the heavenly courts and that Thou hast come to our world to connect with humanity, that humanity might connect with Divinity through believing in Thee.
 

Oh, my heavenly Father, sweep back every mist and every cloud of darkness, that it may not interpose between this people and the promises which Thou hast made to them. Thou hast given Thy life--a life of suffering, great suffering and abuse, and oh, at last, at last, Thy body was nailed to the tree, and by crucifixion Thou hast died. Now, my Saviour, we want kept before us the great love that Thou hast manifested to us, that we might repose in Thy love.
 

Let Thy blessing rest, we pray Thee, upon Dores; let it rest upon Ella. We ask Thee that Thou wouldst take charge of them, that Thy Holy Spirit would rest upon them. May they have an eye single to Thy glory, and may they bear in mind Thy words, 'He that will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.'
 

Oh, when oppressed, when weighed down, open the clear light that the sunshine of Thy glory may shine upon them, and that they indeed may reflect Thy light to the world. The light that Thou shalt give them, may they impart.
 

I ask Thee, Lord, that this congregation that is here this evening may realize the presence of God, our Saviour, with the crown of life presented before us, encouraging us to put on the whole armor of God, to fight the battles of the Lord, and be prepared that when He shall come in His glory, they may say, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us. [Isa. 25:9.]
 

Bless this people; bless this sanitarium; let the glory of God be revealed; let the light of heaven shine upon them here; and may prosperity attend the medical missionary work. We pray Thee to sanctify the people and those that shall come here. Thou, the mighty Healer, can help them; Thou canst save them, if they will give their hearts to Thee. We ask Thee to let Thy power and Thy blessing rest upon the people. Encircle them in the arms of Thy mercy and love them freely.
 

Oh, my Saviour, my Saviour, who is like unto Thee? None, none that can save to the uttermost but Thee. We give ourselves to Thee this evening. Wash away our sins; cleanse us in the blood of the Lamb; and may we be present when the family shall assemble in the kingdom of God and we become members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King. Then we shall strike the golden harp and fill all heaven with music and songs to the Lamb.
 

We give ourselves to Thee this evening. Accept us as Thy denominated people, and Thy name shall have all the glory. Amen.--Ms. 170, 1905.
 

Ellen G. White Estate
Silver Spring, Maryland
Entire Ms.