Proverbs 19:14

And a prudent wife is from the Lord.

Divine direction needed in the choice of a wife

In the choice of a wife, first of all seek Divine direction. About thirty-five years ago, when Martin Farquhar Tupper urged men to prayer before they decided upon matrimonial association, people laughed. And some of them have lived to laugh on the other side of their mouths. The need of Divine direction I argue from the fact that so many men, and some of them strong and wise, have wrecked their lives at this juncture. Witness Samson and the woman of Timnath. Witness Socrates, pecked of the historical Xantippe. Witness Ananias, a liar, who might perhaps have been cured by a truthful spouse, yet marrying as great a liar as himself--Sapphira. Witness John Wesley, one of the best men that ever lived, united to one of the most miserable women, who sat in City Road Chapel making mouths at him while he preached. Witness the once connubial wretchedness of John Ruskin, the great art essayist, and Frederick W. Robertson the great preacher. On this sea of matrimony, where so many have been wrecked, am I not right in advising Divine pilotage? Especially is devout supplication needed because of the fact that society is so full of artificialities that men are deceived as to whom they are marrying, and no one but the Lord knows. After the dressmaker, and the milliner, and the jeweller, and the hair-adjuster, and the dancing-master, and the cosmetic art have completed their work, how is an unsophisticated man to decipher the physiological hieroglyphics, and make accurate judgment of who it is to whom he offers hand and heart? That is what makes so many recreant husbands. They make an honourable marriage contract, but the goods delivered are so different from the sample by which they bargained. They were simply swindled. They mistook Jezebel for Longfellow’s Evangeline, and Lucretia Borgia for Martha Washington. (T. De Witt Talmage.)