Marriage is a moral state, not a spiritual one, but the measure of spirituality brought to it is what preserves its morality and fulfills its purpose. Marriage is a vastly important human institution. It represents an upward step in mankind's social and moral advancement. The effect of Christian Science is to uplift and transform the human sense of marriage, not to abolish it.
Marriage generally means the founding of a home, and home is the backbone of society—when it is rightly conducted. Mary Baker Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 100): "Pure humanity, friendship, home, the interchange of love, bring to earth a foretaste of heaven. They unite terrestrial and celestial joys, and crown them with blessings infinite."
In the home, children can be taught the fundamentals of upright living, high standards of morality, and good fellowship, so that each generation can carry the torch of spiritual enlightenment farther into the future of the race. The home is the best place for the children to learn lessons of unselfed love, forbearance, and united action, thus to be prepared for wider usefulness as world citizens.
