| Show OUR CHICAGO LETTER this is the subject of a series of papers in the november adorth american review JRe view bearing the signatures of dr SW 8 W dyke cardinal gibbons bishop potter and colonel ingersoll dr dike deals in statistics he says there were in the united states divorces reported for 1867 and for 1886 or a total of in the twenty years this increase is moru more than twice as great as the population and has been remarkably uniform throughout the period the movement is well nigh as universal in europe as here thirteen european countries including canada had divorces in 18 and in 1886 an increase cf f 67 per cent and with us in the 0 same period per sent cent dr dike then stated that 20 per cent of the divorces were based on adultery 16 on cruelty 38 8 on desertion ser tion 4 for drunkenness 3 for neglect to provide but he says that a special study of cases in twelve different states showed that 20 per er cent were directly or indirectly rectify attributable to liquor in 70 counties of 12 states 68 per cent of t the h e applications for divorce were granted ranted the duration of marriage before fore divorce occurs is if 3 nine years the doctor recommends ds some uniform national of divorce he thinks that under the present innocent are de frau ded children rendered illegitimate inheritance made uncertain u nc ertain and actual imprisonments for bigamy growing out of divorce and remarriage marriage re cardinal gibbons follows with a scathing indictment of our divorce system which he be says is destroying marriage breaking hearts wrecking homes and ruining souls he says gays tile catholic must answer the question can divorce from the bond of patrimony matrimony elerbe ever be allowed with an emphatic no and for this answer his reason is thus saith the lord the wisdom of this is 18 apparent he be says from the present social condition of the U states divorce made the first inroads into the integrity of ancient anchen greece and and in the latter wo men were not ashamed of licentiousness until finally a nation built on family purity crumbled into rottenness ge he calls divorce christian polygamy and parallels it with mormon polygamy to the ad vantage of the latter here is what he says we are filled with righteous indignation at mormonism we brand it as a national disgrace and do demand and its reton why because forsooth the mormons cormons are poly ga mists do we forget that there are two species of polygamy simultaneous and successive mormons cormons practice without legal recognition the first species while among us the second species is indulged in and with the sanction of law by thousands in whose nostrils mormonism is a stench and an abomination the christian press and pulpit of the land denounce the mormons cormons as an adulterous sene ration but too often deal very tenderly with christian why Is christian po aga my less odious in the of god than mormon n polygamy among us itis true the one is looked up upon on as more respectable than the ott other er yet we know that the mormons cormons Mor mons 0 as a a class care for their wives and c hildren children while christian polygamists ista but too ofton often leave wretched wives to starve slave or sin and leave miserable children a public charge he says the catholic marriage is grounded on mark x 11 12 luke xvi 18 1 cor vii 10 11 no divorce but a separation is granted for adultery with no right for elther either party to marry again the cardinal then quotes fr from om his namesake the author of the decline and fall or of the roman empire to show that divorce was destructive to happiness aid virtue he quotes also from prof woolsey and from john raylor faylor coleridge and then says Div divorce orcO as we know it began when marriage was removed from the demand of the hurch church divorce shall cease when the old order shall be restored will this ever come to pass perhaps so after many days 1 bishop potter of the episcopal church follows next he reters refers his hia readers to the church digest of canons 1887 to the reports of discussions cus in the diocesan and general conventions and to the public opinion of the clergy and laity he says divorce is very rare in his church it is little wonder thesis this is so go if a candidate has hai to hunt through all the literature the bishop refers to on the subject of divorce the time public opinion were searched the prospective divorce seeker would be more fit to grace the funeral baked meats than the marriage festival the bishop seemed to feel his own inconsistency in d welling dwelling on church authority for divorce when his church dont hold marriage sacred article says matrimony is not to be counted for a sacrament of the gospel yet the first section of canon 13 and the form of solemnization affirm that if any persons be joined together otherwise than as gods word doth allow their marriage is not lawful lawf ul the bishops article abounds in inconsistencies of this kind kina however howe er he says that divorce is granted for adultery and remarriage permitted to the i ju he also says that according to the last general convention the mosaic law still obtains in the church and theu again he says that the doing away of circumcision also does away with the mosaic law for stupidity incoherency and opaqueness the bishop beats duns scopus himself but then the eals copal is not a church etisa it is a kind of reflex of the anglican and the anglican according to Macaulay is a compromise between rome borne and calvin between luther and henry the eighth properly speaking the bishop is a prelate in a church c h that dont consider prelacy a divine institution col ingersol follows in his usual style his hia mushy sentiment sent and windy logic show themselves quite prominently in this article he says by way of dis para christians regarded prosperous people deop e as the children of mammon and the unfortunate the gretchea wretched chea and the diseased as the favorites of god but he does not say who were the prosperous people in those days were they the men who gained wealth by conquest and or w were ere they the millionaires who got wealth by dishonesty and fraud and who spent it in libertinism and licentiousness As to regarding the sick and weakly the favored of god surely he would not have christians do as the greeks did and as some savage nations still do puttee put the sickly yand and weakly to death why the essence of early christianity was its superior humanization the effort to suppress the w worldly and selfish in the individual and that is what all the great thinkers of today are try trying ing to do though they ignore much that is at present orthodox it Is against the brutality which destroys the sick and weak that matthew arnold thomas carlisle john ruskin herbert spencer and bUDd hundreds reds of others have written book after book col ingersol says a good deal about what is not found in the bible about family and domesticity and so forth the bible gives a code of morality which if observed will lead to education refinement and happl happiness nesi yet this wise philosopher grumbles because we do not get pictures picture of the homes of the apostles and scientific theories and speculations he might as well grumble because god does not us in addition to reason and intel lect elect a house and aad lot five acres and a i mule he says the celibacy of the he early arly t christians is an indication that marriage was despised the fact is celibacy was not a practice of the early christians it first originated orgina ted in spain and gradually extended itself until it prevailed all through the latin branch of the catholic church today the two great divisions of american christians are protestant and catholic one with a celibate priesthood the other a married priesthood in view of the demoralization existing in both the celibate is to be preferred for instance when father tran ran away with mike mcdonalds Donalds Mc wife the father left no wife and children behind and one that of the injured husbands was ruined when the fivel hundred preachers in protestant sects who annually run away with other mens menis wives do so they injure double the number viz their own families and aad those of the husbands if they were celibates the evil would be 0 only n ly one half the colonel further talks about marriage as a civil contract and yet he wants this contract so that it can be broken by whim or caprice the buying of a mule is a contract but when the mule gets old or broken one cannot demand his money back from the former owner the colonel indulges in a lot of flummery but after all really says nothing about divorce every sensible man will admit that there are reasons in many cases why divorce should exist but it should be controlled by some governing authority and among religionists by their church et forts forte should be made to smooth over difficulties and teachers and spiritual directors might with advantage be consulted before batore the hasty disruption of a family is effected in this case it is nt entirely what the bible says or does not say it is mans own internal inspiration 1 aching in accord with the 19 light ht ant and I 1 guidance of his superiors in counsel and wisdom the cardinal has followers in the united states he says divorce does not exist among them bishop potter has a few followers also divorce he says is rare among them then th is throws all the divorces among a section of the american people and if the divorce statistics are correct among this section a most extensive system teul of polygamy and polyandry both must prevail |
