Gerhard and Walther

For as God bestows such a blessing to us by grace that He justifies the godless ones (Rom 4:5), so also it is proper and right that we acknowledge this great grace with indebted gratitude, and show ourselves thankful to Him, not just with words, but by deed with love and obedience. From our own merit and and might we would never have been counted righteous before God had not God the Lord out of pure grace justified us, remitted our sin, and bestowed upon us Christ’s righteousness.—Johann Gerhard, Schola Pietatis I:117.

There is a union that the eternal Love instituted among men in Paradise, whose fragrance lingers by His creating power. It is the covenant of holy matrimony. Without marriage, the life of man in this selfish world would be like an endless icy winter. Marriage ties a warm band of love around millions and produces precious family circles of natural love. Only believers experience all of this in the fullest sense.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 135.