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Show DIVORCE AND BISHOP TALBOT, LATE OF WYOMING. The way in which the Bishops "of be Episcopal church are floundering around about, the question of divorce is pitiful. The divorce question, with two of three othei'- matter?, threatens to uisin-tegrate uisin-tegrate the Episcopal church. Bishop Potter, unable longer to stand out against the protests of people outside out-side his church .and ju few of his clergymen, clergy-men, in favor of an indecent condition which lie had long sanctioned by social approval, is still continuing- his ridiculous ridic-ulous attempt to make the civil law responsible re-sponsible for" the' flagrant manifestations manifesta-tions of disregard for God's law by the most prominent members of his church. : It is a healthy sign that there are; some clergy in efi in the Episcopal church who keenly feel the disgrace which the temporizing of their superiors has brought upon them. It seems to be well established that those who have most condoned the re-marriage of divorcees are the bishops themselves. Not only is this true of Bishop Potter, who has I niivHvs civen the annroval of his pres- Icnce at the social gatherings of those notoriously unfaithful to-their marriage vows, but it would seem that Bishop , , Talbot, who for some years resided in the neighboring state of Wyoming, .is equally guilty with bishops and others, in entertaining lax notions 'regarding the marriage tie. A prominent Episcopal churchman in New York prints the following. Which will be of interest to people in This part of te country. He says: "Beyond question, the root of the evil lies in the bishops: "I now proceed to fortify my argument. argu-ment. Take the bishop of Central Pennsylvania. Penn-sylvania. "His Lordship," late of Wyoming, Wyo-ming, is an ambitious prelate. He, with burning lips and fiery tongue will scathe the guilty person with words of scorn, be he deacon, priest or bishop, who will, by marrying a man to a divorced di-vorced woman make that man an adul terer. (St. .Maun., xix., v.) .vias, noj To such questions like the worshipers of Baal, "there is neither voice, nor any to answer." Not a voice has he raised, not a word has he uttered, not a line has he written against this wicked procedure pro-cedure in the church, the remarrying of divorced persons. The sin is not sc great in the divorced man or woman seeking re-marriage as it is in the priest or bishop who re-joins in holy matrimony those whom the divorce ! ourt "put asunder." But is there not a. a use why the bishop is thus silent V Verily there is. and a sad one, too. Out in Laramie, the late see city ol Bishop Talbot, there are, or were a short time ago, two factions in the Episcopal church, and therefore in society, so-ciety, each led by a woman divorced and remarried! These have full church privileges, if they wish to avail themselves them-selves of them, and there isno rebuke, presbyterial or episcopal, for past misdeeds. mis-deeds. They are rich, they are the leaders of society, they are parish workers work-ers (one of them was in the Altar chapter), chap-ter), they are members of the guilds, they are visited by women in the congregation, con-gregation, the bishop's wife having had the privilege of entree to the homes of both ladies: but the congregation is divided, di-vided, the church rent asunder, the ser- .- iIt r.o t Vinson 1 nmn1l and religion at a low ebb, owing to the feuds of these two women, divorced but remarried. Let us hope that things are not so bad now. Of course, what happens in the see city, where the pre-latic pre-latic chair is, may be expected to prevail pre-vail in other parts of the diocese. And so it did. Divorced parties remarried, and the guilty parties, too, came to the altar and were communicated by the I bishop himself, knowing they had been divorced for adultery, and, though guilty, were remarried. "Like priest, like people," is an old and true proverb. pro-verb. But "like bishop, like priest," is equally true. So that one must have foreseen that the fire of religion would burn low in the diocese of Wyoming. And it did. The foregoing is bad enough, but there is worse to follow. For these remarried re-married divorced parties there was no social ostracism, no excommunication as evil-doers, no repelling from the blessed sacrament, no rebuke even. Why? eu, one reason, ana a very substantial sub-stantial reason it will be allowed, is that Bishop Talbot himself married one of the divorced women to the man she 1 now calls husband! Men and women of the world will hold their breath and stand aghast at this episcopal act. But Saints of God will smite upon their breasts and cry, "Spare thy people. Oh, Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach." Here, theti. is a bishop of the church, and a leading and popular one at that, who at marriage ceremonies had often tittered in those solemn tones he knows so well how to conjure, "those whom flivd lms ioinod tiMraiUn let v(- put asunder." uniting in the bonds of holy matrimony, in face of the prayer hook and the church, a person "put asunder" by a disreputable divorce court. |