he them; and God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth," Gen. ii. Gen. i. The divine Redeemer honoured marriage with his presence, and crowned it with his approbation and benediction, by a beginning of miracles in Cana of Galilee, where he manifested his glory, John. ii. — In his discourses upon the sublime doctrines and sacred precepts of his kingdom, he frequently condescended to notice marriage as an ordinance of the highest importance to mankind, and to the interests of religion in the world. He confirmed its divine origin; defended its purity; and by establishing the perpetual obligation of the moral law and explaining its extent, he retained, in their full authority and force, the precepts against incest and adultery.
The Church honours marriage. Under the dispensation of the Old Testament, the institution was venerated and every violation of it severely punished. Under the New Testament, marriage is declared "to be honourable in all, and the bed undefiled, while whoremongers and adulterers God will judge," Heb. xiii. 4. The Apostles expressly recognise the ordinance; they enforce the laws by which it is pro-
