imposed upon free people. It is not one of the arbitrary dicta of a
tyrannical Church. It is rather the embodiment of the wisdom learnt
through ages of varied and often tragic experience. It is an attempt to
conserve for each rising generation the possibility of the best in the
field of sexual experience. It does point out the way of happy,
healthy, and complete life.

I have left to the end a thought about the marriage ceremony which will
only appeal to some, but which I feel ought to have a place in this
chapter. Many fine and sensitive lovers shrink from the publicity of
ordinary weddings. Their love is to them so sacred and so personal a
thing that they do not want to make any parade of themselves before a
great gathering of relations and friends. Well! I know of no binding
reason why such sensitive couples should call in the relations
and friends. Those relations and friends like to rejoice with those who
rejoice, because of a very human and kindly interest. And many couples,
and especially many brides, greatly enjoy their friends on their
marriage day. If, however, a couple prefer a private wedding that is
their affair. But about the place and value of a religious ceremony
I do want to add a word. If a man and a woman realize that their love
is a sacred thing, I believe they will find they actually want to make
the great step into final intimacy in the presence of God, and to stop
for a moment ere they go up into that mysterious country to ask His
blessing and guidance. I have said that at a certain point love itself
demands intimacy, and that it is an entirely natural thing for us to
desire it. But none the less it _is_ a momentous hour in the life of
any couple when they pass behind the last barriers and enter on a
sacramental oneness of body. It is a wonderful hour--the hour of all
others when the romance of life is most splendid. But just because
it is that, and because the issues of that hour are so far-reaching,