Show FOOLISH CHURCH CAO She S-he Anglican church or Episcopal or Church of England whichever you please to call it does not countenance the marriage of divorced persons There is an organization in Great Britain Bri-tain called the English Church Union which Is interested in maintaining the rites and rules and discipline as well as doctrinal tenets of the Episcopal church It has commenced a movement move-ment to compel the Bishops of that church to define their position as to the legality of such unions At a recent fashionable marriage I ceremony in St Marks church North Audiey street London a clergyman the Rev William Black rose among the congregation and formally objec I ted to the proceedings ort the ground that the bridegroom had been divorced I by his first wife The officiating clergyman cler-gyman nevertheless continued the ceremony relying upon the authority of a special license granted by the chancellor of the Diocese of London Such an unwonted interruption of a wedding naturally attracted much public I pub-lic attention and was followed by so copious and heated a discussion in the newspapersthat the chancellor thought it necessary to make a formal explanation explana-tion of his connection with the affair from the bench of the Consistory Court 4 In the course of a long and learned opinion he declared in effect that in his judgment he had no resource but to issue the license upon the applicant asserting upon oath that there was no legal impediment and that the license when once issued by him as chancellor chancel-lor was not subject to the authority of the bishop who In appointing him had invested with him full jurisdiction The chancellor referring to the par tlcular case turned the tables on the Reverend objector to the marriage by declaring that a person disturbing a marriage ceremony by protesting against it in open church when the ceremony was authorized by license became in the eyes of the law a brawler and liable to prosecution The extreme views of the dignitaries of the Church of England in relation I to divorce are on a par with those entertained by the same ecclesiasts I as to marriage with a deceased wifes sister That Is forbidden In England both by church rule and civil law It is singularly absurd and is alike unsupported un-supported by scripture and commonsense common-sense A single text is cited by Anglican Ang-lican Bishops from the old Mosiac law in support of their position but it has reference to the marriage of a wifes sister during her lifetime so it has no bearing at all on the question It is proper that marriage should be surrounded by sufficient safeguards to secure its Integrity and to prevent its obligations being held too lightly At the same time the impossibility of forcing the affections and the great wrong of compelling a man and woman wo-man whose dispositions are utterly incompatible to remain bound together to-gether as husband and wife for life must be apparent to every thoughtful mind To compel them when separated to remain always single is equally inconsistent in-consistent Both secular and ecclesiastical law should be adapted to existing conditions condi-tions which change materially with the passage of ages And good common com-mon sense is a better guide to the equities than old customs and antiqua ter regulations which if they were ever really fitted to the times when they were originated are certainly out of joint with the situation of affairs in the nineteenth century j |