Manuscript Releases, vol. 6 [Nos. 347-418]

MR No. 395—Counsel to a Newly Wed Couple

Live for the glory of God. Be tender, kind, and courteous to each other. The happiness of your life will consist in making God your trust, and in seeking to make each other happy. Practice self-control. It is so easy to speak thoughtlessly, words that grieve and wound. Do not venture to trifle with each other's feelings. Practice patience, encourage love, discipline yourselves to guard every word and action, and study how you can be a blessing to each other. 6MR 315.1

Love is a delicate plant; rude blasts frequently bruise it if they do not uproot it entirely. 6MR 315.2

Never make a third person your confidante. Your private life is sacred; keep the barriers high, that no one may presume to intrude into the sacred circle. Be calm and tranquil, patient, forbearing, and forgiving. 6MR 315.3

A word more: do not speak a word in jest that shall injure or reflect upon the other. Never recount the mistakes, or errors, or faults of each other in the presence of a third person, or in company, be the circle ever so select. Live for God and for each other.—Letter 16a, 1870 (To Edson and Emma White, October, 1870.) 6MR 315.4

Released December 2, 1974.