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83:3.1 The [[ancients]] mistrusted [[love]] and [[promises]]; they thought that abiding [[unions]] must be guaranteed by some tangible [[security]], [[property]]. For this reason, the purchase price of a [[wife]] was regarded as a forfeit or deposit which the [[husband]] was [[doomed]] to lose in case of [[divorce]] or desertion. Once the purchase price of a bride had been paid, many [[tribes]] permitted the [[husband]]'s brand to be burned upon her. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa Africans] still buy their wives. A [[love]] [[wife]], or a white man's wife, they [[compare]] to a cat because she costs nothing.
83:3.2 The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride bride] shows were occasions for [[dressing]] up and decorating daughters for [[public]] exhibition with the [[idea]] of their bringing higher prices as [[wives]]. But they were not sold as [[animals]]—among the later [[tribes]] such a [[wife]] was not transferable. Neither was her purchase always just a cold-blooded [[money]] [[transaction]]; [[service]] was equivalent to cash in the purchase of a wife. If an otherwise desirable man could not pay for his wife, he could be [[adopted]] as a son by the girl's [[father]] and then could marry. And if a poor man sought a wife and could not meet the price demanded by a grasping [[father]], the [[elders]] would often bring [[pressure]] to bear upon the [[father]] which would result in a [[modification]] of his demands, or else there might be an [[elopement]].
83:3.3 As [[civilization]] progressed, [[fathers]] did not like to [[appear]] to sell their daughters, and so, while continuing to [[accept]] the bride purchase price, they [[initiated]] the [[custom]] of giving the pair valuable presents which about [[equaled]] the purchase [[money]]. And upon the later discontinuance of payment for the bride, these presents became the bride's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry dowry].
83:3.4 The [[idea]] of a dowry was to convey the impression of the bride's [[independence]], to suggest far removal from the times of [[slave]] [[wives]] and [[property]] companions. A man could not [[divorce]] a dowered wife without paying back the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry dowry] in full. Among some [[tribes]] a [[mutual]] deposit was made with the [[parents]] of both bride and groom to be forfeited in case either deserted the other, in [[reality]] a marriage bond. During the period of [[transition]] from purchase to dowry, if the [[wife]] were purchased, the [[children]] belonged to the [[father]]; if not, they belonged to the [[wife]]'s [[family]].
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_83 Go to Paper 83]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>
[[Category:Paper 83 - The Marriage Institution]]
83:3.1 The [[ancients]] mistrusted [[love]] and [[promises]]; they thought that abiding [[unions]] must be guaranteed by some tangible [[security]], [[property]]. For this reason, the purchase price of a [[wife]] was regarded as a forfeit or deposit which the [[husband]] was [[doomed]] to lose in case of [[divorce]] or desertion. Once the purchase price of a bride had been paid, many [[tribes]] permitted the [[husband]]'s brand to be burned upon her. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa Africans] still buy their wives. A [[love]] [[wife]], or a white man's wife, they [[compare]] to a cat because she costs nothing.
83:3.2 The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride bride] shows were occasions for [[dressing]] up and decorating daughters for [[public]] exhibition with the [[idea]] of their bringing higher prices as [[wives]]. But they were not sold as [[animals]]—among the later [[tribes]] such a [[wife]] was not transferable. Neither was her purchase always just a cold-blooded [[money]] [[transaction]]; [[service]] was equivalent to cash in the purchase of a wife. If an otherwise desirable man could not pay for his wife, he could be [[adopted]] as a son by the girl's [[father]] and then could marry. And if a poor man sought a wife and could not meet the price demanded by a grasping [[father]], the [[elders]] would often bring [[pressure]] to bear upon the [[father]] which would result in a [[modification]] of his demands, or else there might be an [[elopement]].
83:3.3 As [[civilization]] progressed, [[fathers]] did not like to [[appear]] to sell their daughters, and so, while continuing to [[accept]] the bride purchase price, they [[initiated]] the [[custom]] of giving the pair valuable presents which about [[equaled]] the purchase [[money]]. And upon the later discontinuance of payment for the bride, these presents became the bride's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry dowry].
83:3.4 The [[idea]] of a dowry was to convey the impression of the bride's [[independence]], to suggest far removal from the times of [[slave]] [[wives]] and [[property]] companions. A man could not [[divorce]] a dowered wife without paying back the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry dowry] in full. Among some [[tribes]] a [[mutual]] deposit was made with the [[parents]] of both bride and groom to be forfeited in case either deserted the other, in [[reality]] a marriage bond. During the period of [[transition]] from purchase to dowry, if the [[wife]] were purchased, the [[children]] belonged to the [[father]]; if not, they belonged to the [[wife]]'s [[family]].
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_83 Go to Paper 83]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>
[[Category:Paper 83 - The Marriage Institution]]
