only as the future bearer of hia children woe to her if she has not chosen a whose heart is swelled with aspirations that the in whose soul there not a tight pure enough and bright enough to in such a moment as that the lurid flames of desire i it is one of the most beautiful and beneficent arrangements which mark the divine economy that an institution � a physical incident of which is the of the race � should in its higher and nobler be the means of calling forth all that is best and purest in the inner nature of man love in the of that much word � love that man s innate selfishness and teaches the great lesson that the best happiness js to be found in cares for another not in thoughts for himself love that is he indeed by the warmth of earthly emotions but � has an existence above and apart from these to remain when age has passion � to endure beyond the term of our present stage of existence in that higher phase of wedded life which has its origin in sentiments and aspirations such as these not in the results of our nature s lower instincts will a cultivated mind in best moments recognize the divine end of marriage if some day released from the daily round and whirl of politics you give to your better instincts in quiet fair scope and free voice i think they will teach you this meanwhile we are here at issue you have one conception of the divine end of marriage i another if be the correct idea then it may be that nothing except that � which casts doubt on the of should he � i cause for the dissolution of marriage if on the i liave more justly interpreted the higher purposes of that institution then whatever these the divine end of and supplies cause why the relation in its true intent should be is a sound principle in that with the termination of the cause for a law the law also should cease i do merely say in cases where the purposes for god ordained marriage are its defeated and its inmost by evil passions that the relation thus outraged may not cease i say that for the sake of virtue and for the good of mankind in all such cases it o to cease household strife is domestic hatred is heartless is treatment of the weak tlie strong is terrible and that condition of from a noble purpose which evils such as these has become itself and demands in its per should a life of marriage and divorce his laws will fail of their effect in making his demands then ha should have special reference to the powers likely to be at the disposal of those of whom these demands are made it nothing to sa j that a thing ought to be if as a general rule it cannot be but of all the most � even when mature thought has brought wisdom and when age has conferred experience � is the decision whether a being loved now is the one of all others morally physically to whom in a true home we can permanent happiness and from whom we are capable of receiving it mortal eyes even the wisest never fully penetrate the veil there may be that beyond which no foresight could anticipate and if such be the with wisdom and experience to guide what shall we expect from faith just entering a false world serenely ignorant of its an utter stranger to its will its goodness be its protection the reverse in such a trial it is the noblest who are the most exposed the better the nature the more imminent the danger it the cold the heartless the calculating have fair chance of escape it is the warm the trusting the generous who are the usual what belief so blind as that of first pure young affection what so easily cheated as a fresh and faithful and innocent heart and by what right according to what principle i pray you do we decide that there is one mistake that is never to be corrected one error the most fatal of all wliich once committed we shall never be permitted to repair a life long penalty you would inflict and for what offence say that an honest mistake were a crime say that a error were a career of shame even then the sentiment would be not christian an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth was the rule addressed to the hard heart s nowhere in all christ s will you find the like the sin of your brother seven times you would not forgive yet as a christian you ought to forgive it even to seventy times seventy the to the father s house you would bar against the returning his you would e to him waa the sin the shame his he the life long penalty no rejoicing that he was dead and is alive again no weeping joy that he was lost and i� found let us and stand ce to face with the realities of life the time may come when men and women the of the affections opened shall distinguish and choose their own appropriate mates i have heard argue that it will and that there is a future before mankind even on earth in which separation and will be unknown terms god send it but meanwhile it is with the present and its errors and its and its sufferings and its temptations to sin that we have to deal v le e we fail to cure it is our duty to if � we cannot all the married virtuous and happy let ua do what we can by humane laws of to relieve from situations and thus to domestic misery and arrest vice i thank you 