Show co CONFERENCE Cf O Of ON f EVILS ILS Of DIVORCE Cf I Fourteen Leading Denominations Issue nn an Appeal to the thc Country On the thc Subject A CAMPAIGN OF EDUCATION Too Much Anxiety About Utah Those Interested I to tu Worse olse Con Comma Conditions Neater caler Home jimmie Philadelphia May hiu litter Inter Interchurch church chulch conference on marriage anti and di ill divorce 14 hod representing orce vorce a It 1 hotly body leading denominations has Issued through HH It Rev Ito Ho H It Roberts 1 I D an nut appeal to the tho pub puli public lit Ill calling attention to several aspects of or tho the questIon Time The rh paper Is III thus the beginning of lit a 1 na tilt national of ot education oil the Iho subject to 10 be bo followed foil owed by hy efforts to toI 11 I time thu enactment of ot laws In tho the state legislatures legislature nail and ultimately It Is thought of nn amendment to the tho Con Como Constitution of the tho United States Already A action line has been taken hy by h tho the conference looking bolting toward the time pr cn lout lion of ot the 11 11 II by hy ministers of other uther communions of lit divorcees whom clergymen of their own fa tu th lb have lale ro rl to tu nin i y This movement Is IA tho the first occasion oC of or o In sort rt upon which tho ho representatives tives 18 of tile the great grent d have together the Tho members of the conf Include many of ot tho the most eminent ecclesiastics and laymen lii HI tho the churches chUrche Tile The Jh appeal Tin TIU 1 nay nn civil legislation con can ho bo enacted will ll bo ho operative and finite apart from rota lime accord which wo w are arc seeking I lo t ti secure In III the tho marriage tf of If the tile Christina Christian churches must flutist come lorne the leavening of the minus minds of men antI and women which shall lift them toward u n recognition of ot the no noblest noblest blest dignities of or jib life Wo sn o plead for em a I recognition of the tho ito sanctity of ot marring marrIage We ie r mire are facing a ut condition In Ill Out our country count ry today which threatens danger to the most sacred tImings things Time Tho he very el sanctuary of ot human helium life and of ot love Is IR Bud and lii 11 Mu Manhood womanhood and childhood the lie I home a nd the t he family taut ii 1 y r I aro utro Involved amid wither civil legisla legislation In lion tion nor lor discipline can them until nill unless the tho con of Christian humanity Is iii reached Behind the time monster of ot tuny behind thin tho of ot the Iho lax divorce court with Its Its corruptions and ami Its 1111 contagion stands islands tho lit SLId wid fact of the low Ideal of or mar marriage IS A HOLY TIlING THING Marriage Is III a ml l holy ho 1101 thing Marriage U Is I tin tIm Institution In of God Goc himself and auth andIs lint Is III sanctified under tho the solemnities of the old sanction by hy out our blessed Lord This III IH mutter matter Hetor Reformation mation must mu t begIn here lucre Children must bo hi taught It I Young men muon and young women omen w mu must t be ho l made macli to feel fell It Pro Protected tooted d In purity boy anti and girl Irl man unan and I woman alike must be 11 traIned to look book with reverent eyes upon the tIme holiness of 01 this estate upon tipoti lI On Its tit mysterIousness tn m as higher and deeper ard arti larger tItan eon bo lio measured or 01 reached by b the ho low Ideas of at of 01 worldly advantage of ot the tho of ot passion or by it I tho the lIght and easy estimate of the consent of the lie passing personal fancy ami the tho mutual recognition of ot the lie civil contract TO 10 CUKE CUlm DIVORCE I II Time The hope of If curing end crushing the tit horrible tendencies to facile and tint fro ro re anent divorce rests we tre believe upon I mit and Ii Inculcating I i mm g such In Intense Intense tense conviction of what Is III and timid of ot what marriage nunns that thai It will viii cease to be lie tutored entered Into un In unadvisedly InI advisedly or lightly that bait the festivity I which accompanies It shall be bo sobered lIob consecrated bv h i conscious pres presence cube ence Ice of 01 if Him who adorned d the tho marriage nt fit Cana aria In Iii Galilee by h Ills His presence and first miracle that He lie wrought that neither man nor woman shrill Khali dare to enter the precincts of ot without the th tested trilled certainty of ot love with tho the full recognition of tin time mutual duty of forbearance munch faithfulness which It involves STATISTICS What words cnn call we hod to lo express time Iho abhorrence which ought to rise In iii Indignation against the tho pres prell present present ent ont possibilities mid the existing facts of at the divorce habit In III America Just now no polygamous Utah looms bonus large largo and ugly ul In our tumult minds hut we ise must look IonIc nearer home homo to lo realize the tho true condi condition conditi tion ti fl of or things The proportion of ot di dl divorces ii to marriages in 1902 1002 In iii eight states stales reporting statistics Is IA as us fol tol follows follows lows In Maine 1 I to tl t 6 In New Nei N Hamp Hampshire shire 1 to 83 In Vermont 1 I to 10 In etts to I 1 to lo 16 IG In Rhode Is III Island lunch land 1 to 8 Ri In Iii Ohio 1 to 88 In In Iii diana 1 Ito to 76 In Michigan 1 to 11 It In these states there has hns been a n steady and rapid Increase In lb l the HIP divorces dur thur durIng Ing InA the decode decade anti this Increase is III believed to bo be true of 01 tile country lit at large UNHOLY tJ DIVORCE The tear fear of polygamy In one oils tute Is lii enhanced by hy the tIm tact fact of ot unholy divorce In Irs states Th The faces of ot Christian people must bo he set against this The rhe voices of 01 Christian people veople must bo be lilted lifted thIs not only lo to secure civil legislation not mint only to 10 enforce church discipline but to lo cor cot correct the tho tendency tn to control the In iii Inclination ant and to condemn the t 1 fact t Ret ct AVo o are lire pledging for tile the tic home for mr mite ne Im lly II 11 for the children born and to bo be born for lor the of ot society and for tho the preservation ot of the state stale Wo Vo ask nak you OU to unite with us In iii earnest effort so 10 that more and lInd more tho the man manhood manhood hood tho time womanhood and the tho child chilI childhood childhood hood of ot America may make Itself Itsell hoard heard and amid felt In the hue determined purpose to stem the tho currents which are sapping the foundations of 01 all that Is best heat and holiest and clearest d In III human life lite CHURCHES INTERESTED STED The following churches are represent represented ed ell In the conference Protestant Epis Epla Episcopal copal church In iii the tho United States State Presbyterian church chulch In the United States of ot America Methodist Episcopal church Methodist Episcopal church couth Reformed church In America United Presbyterian church Evangel Evangelical ical Lutheran church the churches the tIme Congregational churches time the Universal chinches s the lie Unitarian ian churches the Reformed Presby titian church the Cumberland Presby tenon church time till Alliance of ot the Iho Re lie fanned churches relies holding tho the Presby Presbyterian terian terlan t system |