And did he not make onef Yet had he the
residue of the spirit. And wherefore one?
(Again the answer.) That he might seek a
godly seed. Therefore take heed to your
spirit and let none deal treacherously against
the wife of his youth.*'

This passage has been interpreted to mean
nothing more than an admonition against
divorce or unfaithfulness to any wedded
companion, but in the light of the whole
truth it seems far more reasonable that "the
wife of thy covenant'', and '*the wife of thy
youth'' refers, in its deepest significance, to
the one joined to the true husband from the
beginning, and that this is the information
that we were intended eventually to get out
of it. As long as we were unaware that there
is such a mate, naturally we would not see
this meaning in it, and it serves its first

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purpose by inculcating the lesson of faith-
fulness and kindliness, but this is an example
of God's method, through the instrument of
the prophet, of opening our eyes to the full
truth, through the only means which lifts
man from lower to higher — the putting into
practice the law of conduct nearest to the
truth of which he may at any time have
knowledge.
