Show OUR UIICAGO LETTER Isllnorcc Wrougr CllICAC0 Nov 13 159 Cor rcspondence tho DjsrnET Nii SJ This is tho subject of a series of papers In the November AorM American Jicncte bearing the signatures Dr fo W Dyke Car illual Gibbons Bishop Potter and I Colonel Ingcrsoll Dr Dike deals in statistic lie ans Them were In the United States 9337 divorces nporteJ for 1SS7 and 25535 for 1SM or a total of lejjTlG in the twenty years This incrcls is more than txvica as great as the imputation imputa-tion and has been remarkably uniform uni-form throughout the period 0 The movement Is w ell nigh as universal uni-versal in Europe here Thirteen European countries Including Canada had 0540 divorces In IS and 10939 in li > 51nJcrcilse of 67 per cent alf with us hi the same ixfloTl 7JS per cent Tr Dike then stated thnt 20 percent per-cent of the divorces were ased on adultery IG on cruelty 3 on desertion de-sertion 4 I for drunkenness 3 for neglect to provide But ho says that a special study of59M > cases in twelve dim rent States shoved that o per cent were directly or indirectly indi-rectly attributable to liquor In 70 counties of 12 states OS per cent of the applications for divorce wire granted The duration of marriage before divorce occurs is nine years The Doctor recommends SlIm un7 form national scheme of divorce He thinks that under the present system innocent arties are de frau led children rendered illegitimate illegiti-mate inheritance made uccrtaiii and actual imprisonments for ligamj growing out of divorce and remarriage Cardinal Gibbons follow with a scathing indictment our divorce system which he says Is destroying marriage breaking hearts wreck imrhomes and minim mitls Iln ants the Catholic must ansner the question Can divorce from tile bond matrimony ever be allowed with an emphatic Xo And for this answer hL reason is That Kath the Lord The wisdom of this is np Jurent he says from the present social condition of the United state Divorce made the first Inroads Into the integrity of ancient Greece and Home and in the latter place women wo-men were not ashamed of licentiousness ness until finally a nation built on family punty crumbled Into rotten ne e lie calls divorce Christian polygamy and parallels it with Mormon polygamy i to the ad vantage of the latter Here is what he saj g I 1 We are filled with righteous mdig nation a Mormonlsm wo brand Inllll a a national dlrc aud demand ItS suppression Why Because forsooth thcMormonsaropolvpamists Done forget that there arc two species of po lygamv simultaneous suit su p sric iformonspracUcowIlbout local recognition tho first species nbilo among tao second species ii in Pnt I Unlgcd in and with tho sanction of law by thousands In who o nostrils Monnom I a stench and an abomination abomi-nation The Cliritian prow and pulpit pul-pit of tbo land denounce tho Mormons a an adulterous generation but too rlend often deal versienderir with Chrislbn polisamists Why r I Christian po lygamy less odious in the sight p lyJmy Cod than Mormon polygamv Among us us true the is one looked t true to lke upon a moro repccSaUe than tlo oher Yet we kow that tho 1fomlon class nice for their 1t and children CIltrn wbio Christian polygsmistt but too often leave serelebad wives to r t slave orsln and leave mIserable child 0na rna nublrhn c He sajs the Catholic marnage is grounded on Mark x I J Luke rvi lb 1 Cor vii 10 I > 0 divorce but a separation Is granted Epratlon for adultery with noniht forcIUier party to ruarrj agin The Cardinal then quotes from his namesake the author of tho Decline and Fall of the Demon Empire to zhott that divorce was destructheto happiness and Ire He quotes also from Prof VooiMi and from John lajlor Coleridge Colerdgl I and then rajs Divorce as wo know I began when marriage was I removed from the demnnil of 11 I church divorce shall cease when I the old order shall be restored Will this ever to come pass Perhaps so after man days lCha t Bishop Potter of the Eplscornl i t Church follows next He relers his readers to tile Church Digest L Dibt Canons Its to the reportiof discussions dis-cussions In tlC diocesan and gener al conventions and to the public opinion of theclergj and laity Iuble Io says dhorcu is very rare In his church Ils little wonder hI BO If a candidate has to hunt through nil the literature the bishop refers to on the subject of divorce By the time canons dkcu ions and public opinion were starched the pnxpctiU divorce seeker would be more fit to grace the funeral b meals than the bkLII n1t1 inorriaze festival Inae tnl The bishop seemed to feel his own inconsistent In dwelling on church authority for divorce when his church 23 hold mrre sacred Article XXV says Matrimony NYs Is ltrlwou not to l counter bra sacrament of the G > pcl Yet the fiift section of canon 13 and the Font ftOI emnization affirm Sl al 1 that if anv penous 0 joined together otherwise than a Gods Word dotli allow their marriageIs lawiuj alow biliopVi article abounds In incon sistencies of tills kind Uoucvir he sai8 that divorce Is granted for adultery and remarriage permitted prlttJ to the innocent party last He also says that according to the general convention seneml the Mo aafc law till obtains In tho chureit and then again he says that the do tug aWaor circumcision also does away wIth the Moinic law do stupidity Ilcoherency and opaque eta the IUshol opaque 8tus himself Hut then the Epis copal is not a church It j is a kind I kil of Riles of the Anglican and the Anglican according toMacaulay is a compromise < between Dome and Calvin between Luther and Henry the ry the w Eighth i Properly speaking fBUup 5s a prelate In a church that dont consider collder prelacy divine a institution fl Col Ingerl follows In his usual flapdoodle t1ole style His mush tIe mushy onti meat and windy IoIc snl i show them selves H quite Promlnently wII this article He says by way of dls paragenseot than regarded tl the early Chris rlll prosperous ixnne as the f i IdrPn of mammon and the unfortunate unformle the wretched and the diseased as the favorites of God but lie Jots not say who were the 1 Prosperous people in those days Were they JI men who gained wealth bi conquest and spollaUon or were they the millionaires who got wealth by dishonesty and fraud and who spent it in libertin Fpnt ism and IieenUousuess Ibertin regarding the sick and I weakly the wor of God surely he would not have ChristIans do nsthe Greeks did and a some savage nations stIll doput tho sickly and weakly to dopt Why the essence of early Christianity o its 1erior humanizaUon the elThrt to suppress the worldlyand telflsli J in the I individual indi-vidual And Uiat is whit all the great thinkers of today are tIn to do though they Iguore much that I at present orthodox I is against the brutality which de lrojs thu sick and weak thatJIallhew Arnold Thomas Carlisle John IluklnHer bertfcxncennd hundrcdsof others have written book after book aer CoL IngerK sas a good deal about what I not found III the Bible Tae fnmilr and ilonu tlcitv and soforUi TheBlblegiesa code of morality which if observerd will lead to education refinement and happiness yet this wbephIloM > r > er grumbles becaUSe we do not get pictures of Ute homes of the ap ties and scientific theories and speculations He might M well grumble because God docs not give us in addition lo leason and intellect heel a house aud lot fie acres aud let Ho says the celibacy of tie early Christians is an indication that marriage was deplsed The fact is celibacy was not a practice of the iliritlans I first orclnated I In Spain and gradually extended I self until It prevailed all through flr ut I pre the Jatin branch of the Catholic churcli Today the two great division divi-sion of American Christians are Protftantand Catholic oue wHIt a celibate priesthood the other a nun ned priesthood Ir xltw of tho tho demoralization existing both the deDIUzUon cclilalc is I to bo preferred For Instance In-stance whin father Moysant ran tsne McDonalds wife with Mike away le the father Ml no wife and children behind and only one faml that of the injured husbands was ruined When the fivol hundred preachers inirrot laut sccU who nnualli run away with olhtr men s wives I wl td J i do so they Injure double the number num-ber etc I their own families and tho e of the husbands IftIny were celibates the evil would 0 onh one half Ilf halfThe Colonel further talks about marriage as a civil contract and jet he wants this contract f that i Ube U-be broken by whim caprice The buying of a mule Is n contract but when the mule gets oU or broken I one cannot dcn > his money lock from U > firmer owner The Colonel I indulges in i bLot llummcryi but after all really snjs nothing about divorce II Ee vii lblc lan will admit I that there are reasons In many C3MS why divorce shouldexi but It should be controlled by omc governing authority and among religionists h 1 > their church Efforts I Ef-forts should It made to smooth over diflicullics and teachers and spiritual directors might with advantage 1 < o consulted Kloru the hasty disruption of n family is eflected In tills case it is not entirely en-tirely what the Bible says or does not say it is mans ow n internal inspiration in-spiration acting In accord wiUi the light and I guidance of Ins iiperiors in counsel and inlom I The Cardinal has 10000000 followers fol-lowers in the United te He tays divorce docs not exist among them Bishop Potter has a few followers fol-lowers also Divorce he sS is rare among them Then this throws ill the divorces among a section of the American people and if the divorce di-vorce taU tles are correct among this section a mot exUit ie system of polygamy and ol nnJri both must prevail JIMIS |