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Show j SOME EVILS Of DIVORCE ! Protestant Testimony on Catholic Mar- j riages Marriage in Pagan Nations Woman a Slave to Be Disposed of at j Will Prevalency of Divorce Destruc- I tion of the Family Infants Abandoned and Exposed to Death Divorce Intro- i duced by the Reformers. j (Written for The Intermountain Catholic.) I Jor.nnn Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous Ger- man poet, dramatist and prose writer, called "the I jacrr.mcnTs of the Catholic church the loftiest con- I cppt inn of religious cult." He also makes this beau-I beau-I t;ful reference to the sacrament of matrimony : "A I vpur;? couple approach the altar to join hands, not j fis a passing salutation, or as at the festive ball, but with the blessing of the priest pronounced upon I ihe union, which is forthwith rendered indissolu-1 indissolu-1 1" GoPthe, himself a Protestant, fully understood I the nature, effects and stability of marriage accords' accord-s' in? to Catholic teaching, especially its salutary ef-l ef-l feet? on society. Carriage, when its unity, sanctity end indissolubility are discarded, is no longer con-j con-j sick-red essential for the preservation of the family I which is the only antidote against social corrup-I corrup-I tion. The destruction of the family, whether in ancient or modern times, meant the loss of prestige end the ruin of society. The history of ancient Greece and Rome prove this. Under pagan Rome, st the zenith of its glorv, marriage was by coemp-I coemp-I tion. that is, the husband purchased his wife who I Vpcame a slave instead of a helpmeet. By the laws cf the empire he could dispose of her when he tbucht fit to do so. His repudiation did not mean liberty for the discarded wife. Amongst the higher classes, the Patricians, a semblance of religion was I observed in the marriage ceremony, but divorce I was permitted for any cause. So prevalent were dill di-ll vorces under these lax laws that it is recorded ''that there were many women of the first families in . ; Eornc who might have counted their years, not by ! the number of consuls, but by that of their hus- band?." under this system whether man dispensed i with his wife by divorce or repudiation at his own i option woman was always the sufferer, and always j regarded as a slave and inferior in every respect. Pla'.n confirms this. In one of his works he wrote, f ''The souls of men shall be punished in the second proration by passing into the body of a woman j t:A in the third of passing into that of a brute." i IMnm Theosophites have improved on Plato's the-1 the-1 orybv'making the soul in its transmigration to im-j im-j trove. j This perpetual slavery led to the destruction of the family, and became the ruin of society. Under f the laws of Pagan Rome in its best days the new-I new-I bom babe was cast at its fathers feet. If he took the child up it meant that he recognized it and I ould provide for it, but if he refused to take it up n all understood that he abandoned his off-j off-j spring and the child was exposed in some public ; T.aee. Thus exposed, the horrible cruelties, worse 'tan f!ith inflicted on the innocent, were most re-j re-j vr.ltinr. It lf-d to the extermination of the family. I sr'd the dissolution of the empire. At the dawn of ; Christianity such was the state of the civilized j ':. C hrist undertook to correct those evils. One 1 ' b? first steps was to restore matrimony to its I f..Titivo standing. He sanctified it by elevating it Ito ihr. .Mivju'ty of a sacrament, restoring the family r t: . '.riginal idea laid down in Paradise by mak-:r- union of one man and one woman its basis, 3-d vhnt the husband was to be the head of the -?::v,iv. -t both were equal, and equally interested 't!ra:v their family. To preclude the possibility i!:c:;;.-rrnce, neglect, or abandonment of the chil-L-r-n ).r, rrnve a p0cjve. command that nothing but f'f'!i C'.uld break their union, in other words, that ? T'r'.-rvtirin with the privilege of remarrying dur-!r-r th- ifo time of the separated parties, could hnvr-r -,.-. -ranted. f 1 "i i law the Catholic church has for twenty r.tnr, iAhorr-d. Through its observance the fam-ii; fam-ii; n 'r,rr, society prospered and civilization r;v;. .rri;. sixteenth century it received its 'Vs ': which has been paralyzing society ever i t,::r'. Ine reformers began by denying the indis- y;j!':-;,.v -of marriage, and secondly its sacramental I f,.ifirr.c!r.r, denial of marriage and its sacred I f "r'r xv'''5 striking a vulnerable blow at the root j f,i ily, and as the tree is known by its fruits, J I: v-e judge by its terrible effects on society, I y denial leads to. For any, even the most' 1 r!vi:;; r,;USP divorce may be obtained and a dozen I r ' T'' T!l?rr'acs ma.Y De contracted in one year I 1 ' -ame persons. I , n Paean times, marriage, as originally ordained '' and taught by the synagogue, was stripped I ' l, -redness and in the last days of the Cae-I Cae-I "r : trie Roman empire, through excessive sensual- In?. '." me extinct. In modern times, marriage. . , J r"- y a mere civil contract, is no longer con-ii'rr,; con-ii'rr,; r,no nnjv fln(j indissoluble, and would be rJ!n t'nr rntir'lv by some of our advanced think-j think-j J, try to establish free love as a cure for the j "Is and 0f society. n ' frsons are shocked at the idea that under pa-j pa-j njritprudencp the child's life was subject to the ,rir, '.f an unnatural father, and that if he should 1 .'1Sr'w'n 'he infant just born, as they frequently did, jnJn" '-xposed to die. But is it not still more shock- ? r:r'" barbarous to murder the unborn babe, a I riow so prevalent, that it makes race suicide j f.'V' bat security is there for society under demoralizing influences? The family, which i j found its only safety and protection under the teaching and benign- influence of Christ who proclaimed" pro-claimed" the sanctity, unity and indissolubility of marriage reached its highest perfection during the first sixteen centuries of the Christian era, but the reformation caroe and as their mission was to pull down rather than build up, their success in this one point is growinsr each vear. but, always on the downward grade. The number of divorces is increasing. in-creasing. Young married couples,' after their honeymoon, hon-eymoon, begin to loose confidence in one another, and very often neither can do or say anything that is proper in the other's ej-es. Xor do the evils of divorce end here. When parents and children know that a dissolution of the marriage is obtainable it has a bad effect. When it is not necessary to live together for life, the husband and wife will not be disposed to make the best of ill-assorted marriages, or to make mutual concessions to ech other's weaknesses. All this is essential to harmony. Irritations Ir-ritations follow exaggerations of nettv faults which weaken that mutual confidence and love that should always exist between husband and wife. This discord dis-cord and want of mutual forebearance, which increase in-crease in proportion to the fecility of securing a divorce, di-vorce, tend to destroy the love, respect and obedience' obed-ience' of the children. In the name of liberty and independence a spirit of license and insubordination takes the place of filial love-and affection which tend to any early separation of the family and leaves no lefe for ancestral homes. F. D. |