83:4.9 The [[luck]] element, that in spite of all premarital tests certain marriages turned out bad, led [[primitive]] man to seek insurance [[protection]] against marriage failure; led him to go in quest of [[priests]] and [[magic]]. And this movement culminated directly in [[modern]] church weddings. But for a long time marriage was generally recognized as consisting in the [[decisions]] of the contracting [[parents]]—later of the pair—while for the last five hundred years [[church]] and [[state]] have [[assumed]] [[jurisdiction]] and now presume to make pronouncements of marriage. | 83:4.9 The [[luck]] element, that in spite of all premarital tests certain marriages turned out bad, led [[primitive]] man to seek insurance [[protection]] against marriage failure; led him to go in quest of [[priests]] and [[magic]]. And this movement culminated directly in [[modern]] church weddings. But for a long time marriage was generally recognized as consisting in the [[decisions]] of the contracting [[parents]]—later of the pair—while for the last five hundred years [[church]] and [[state]] have [[assumed]] [[jurisdiction]] and now presume to make pronouncements of marriage. |