IV.
"Whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever."—Eccl. 3:14.
David and Rachel were out walking when they saw another couple whose lovelike actions were noticeable. As they met, the couple stopped and the man said, "Pardon me, but we are somewhat strange in this new world. May we ask you some questions?"
"Let us sit down here together," suggested David, and he led the way to a place where they could sit quietly. "Are you in trouble?"
"Well, I hardly know," replied the man. "Anna and I are together, and perhaps we ought to be satisfied; but somehow we are not. There is something lacking."
"Yes?"
"You see, we left the earth-life, so suddenly—we were so poorly prepared for this." His companion clasped his arm as if to be protected from some impending danger. "We were boating on the lake, the boat overturned, and here we are.... We were to have been married the next day, but now—now what is our condition? We are not husband and wife; neither, I suppose, can we be, for we were taught back in that world from where we came, that there is no married condition here. Yet you two are husband and wife, are you not?"
"Not yet," replied David, "but we expect to be."
"I don't understand; you seem to know; teach us. May we be married here?"
David explained the principle of celestial marriage as it had been revealed to them in earth-life, and contrasted that doctrine with what was usually taught. "So you see," said he, "even if you had been married on that day appointed in mortality, it would have been only until death did you part. You have passed through death, and so, the contract between you would have come to an end, and you would not now be husband and wife."