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Show DECAY OF MARRIAGE. Christian marriage, to which we referred in our last issue in answer to a query of one of our readers, read-ers, is one of the most important institutions of religion. re-ligion. It is the oldest religious institution, being established by God in Paradise, "Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh." To ' cement this union, and intensify the love and tender ten-der affection of the married 'couple, marriage is blessed by God. Only in this Christian sense, where marriage is sanctioned by God, and elevated to. the dignity of a sacrament, will the love and affection af-fection of the married couple persevere through life. Its primary object is the family, which is the social unit and the foundation of society. Being the foundation of society and sanctioned by God, it follows that marriage is holy, also that it is one, and indissoluble. What God ordains must be holy. When Christ, by his presence, honored the happy couple at the marriage in Cana we may truly infer, that they were no longer twain but one, that they were made a unit by the true medium of union, viz., the sanction and blessing of God. Marriage divorced from religion, and blessed by God is and always has been the great source of moral corruption. To begin, marriage being the foundation of the family must be sanctified by religion., re-ligion., If not then the family becomes corrupt, and will in the natural order of things become extinct. ex-tinct. So it was with the renowned nations of antiquity an-tiquity when they separated from the synagogue. They lost sight of the sacredness of the family, the social order became corrupt and in time became extinct. The attitude and teaching of the Catholic church regarding the sanctity, unity and indissolubility indissol-ubility of marriage is well known the world over. The reformers, in the sixteenth century, took issue with her teaching on these points. They denied that marriage was indissoluble, and took away its sacramental character. The evil consequences, as time went on, became greater, and today we witness the sad results, and perhaps nowhere more than in our own country. Divested of its sanctity and reduced re-duced to a mere civil contract, which may be annulled an-nulled at any time, marriage has come down to the same low place that it was in pagan times. The sad consequences resulting from this state of affairs may be seen in the reports of the daily press of the numberless divorces in every state in the union, the remarriages of divorced persons, the disinclination of the young to marry, or if married to be honorable fathers and mothers as ordained by God. But why this disinclination to marry and aversion aver-sion to family t Many causes may bo assigned for both, but the groat cause is that Christian principles prin-ciples and religioU3 sentiments are dying out in the hearts of the masses of the people. Why do so many marriages prove a failure? Because they are not entered into with proper motives. Sensual love, not that spiritual love arising from the desire to do God's will, directs most people in their choice for a partner for life, and not knowing how long the union may last, and for convenience' sake the burden of a family must be avoided. These evil tendencies, which are increasing every year would disrupt in time the greatest nation that ever existed, ex-isted, yet they continue unchecked and without religion re-ligion no moral strain can be introduced to stem the deadly poison that is causing family decay, ami loss of national prestige and greatness. To perpetuate per-petuate those national characteristics the first step is to restore marriage to its primitive Christian sense, give it its religious character and make it the foundation of the family. |
