The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1867-09-28
Marriage and Divorce.

At the Episcopal Diocesan Convention
held in Chicago last week, Bishop White
house, in his annual address. delivered on
Friday, made the following reference to the
subject Of marriage and divorce:
It is not to be doubted that, IN harmony
with the march Of deeper reflection, moral
sense and religious principle of our country,
you have been shocked and startled by the
spreading depreciation of the marriage tie;
the facility with which divorce from 1t is OBJ
tanned, the demOralizing statements and /
facts on the subject, which are shown In
formal discussion, current literature, the /
daily press, and licentious cohabitation. /
would be thankful If reasonable doubt could /
be sustained on this awful act of our Vehe- /
ment age. 1t is more than an accident 1t /
IS linked with deep, unprincipied purpose. /
1t is movement of socialism and infdelity, |
of multitude who have grown up creedless |
and hence goddess, of an education which |
has instructed the mind and neglected the |
affections, Of a philosophy which glorifes |
the instincts and passions of our corrupt
nature and defies animal impulse, as tho
voice of God As the marriage contract is
only civil obligation, and State law is, IN
many respects, loose, IN the guards and
checks upon 1t, facilities are offered for
separation and divorce which tempt a resort
| W
domestic disarrangementand hardship. The
moral effect Of discipline, from the convie
| ton of the all but irrevocable force of the
vow, has thus become pervadingly damaged.
/ Husband and wife alike admit the practical
/ bility of separation as a remedy, and the
causes which ultimately force the final
| plunge, are allowed to gather and roll on in
needless defiance.
1.-The facility Of separation destroys all
I 4 3 H. ! n A.
dispute. There are solemn warnings on
this fearful social decadence on the page Of
history. Greece and Rome, for ages, shame
our Christian RIGHTEOUSNESS Roman phi
losophers, poets and satirists hold up to pub
lie scOrn and indignation the wantOn and
extensive abuse of a liberty of divorce
which probably did not equal ours. The in
stitutiOn Of Romulus made the marriage in
dissoluble, and though the twelve tables
gave to the husband the freedom of divorce,
yet the republic had existed FIVE hundred
years when the first instance of divorce oe-
CURED, and the distinguished experimenter
was loaded for it with public opprobriun
Augustus endeavored by law to put some re-
straint upen the facility of divorce, but The
check was Overpowered by the prevailing
corruptness of manners. It was the begin
ming Of the end, when that great nation per
ished, utterly destroyed by its own corrup-
ton.
When the French revolution swert
away the usages of ages and the sanctity OF
religion, its special war seemed against the
marriage contract, and six thousand divorces
are said to have taken place, in the city oil
Paris alone, IN the space Of two years and
three months.
The Roman Catholic Church sustains
the absolute indissOlubility of the marriage
tie, and in the State of South Carolina
where the same serupulous policy existed, il
Is stated that not an instance occurred of O
division of any kind, either by the act Of
the Legislature, from the revolution down tc
the opening Of the recent struggle
Ii there be truth beyond all question
where Gods law, social experience, the uni
form record Of our species, every source Of
testimony, warning and appeal concur, it is
the sacredness of the marriage bond, and
the national decline which attends tole
rated disregard or faeile rupture Of its divine
; constitution
The eanoR law, though less peremptory
IN the esteem of the anglican churches than
in the council of Trent, has fully sustained
i the obligations Of holy matrimony,' anG
will not allow any cause except ineontinence
q as valid for contracting Of another marriage
g know not what can stay our morta
decline In this relation, the source and con
servator Of all the substantial interests O
time and eternity, and rouse an Influential
control through our legislative, judicial anC
ecclesiastical authority. But / must at leas
g instruct you, brethren of the clergy to ex
ercise vigilance of inquiry and deyout re
spect for its divine significance in every
case of marriage coming before you. If tht
world degrades the contract into a mere
= ! civil transaction, you must never forget tina
: IN your own hands it is the Office of holy
matrimOny, deep-toned in its sacramento
character where every charge and prayer il
u from the conviction of a Christian faith
Its solemn VOWS are godwaSs, and the church
prOnounces over those elasped hands those
: whom God hath Joined together, let no mar
put asunder'
! Exercise a discretion becoming you,
holy calling, and in every way within you
d power insist on It's performance, as a solemn
& act OF religion, OF else decline to do it D,
d not lower your pariOr to Justices Office, OIL
= sudden call from strangers, and withou
competent witnesses. Do not prostitute tn
Z service to the mere legal union of those VIII
> esteem not enough the solemnity to come t,
g it reyerendly, soberly, advisedly and in tn
fear of God We refuse our burial seryic
to the unbaptized and to the conscious sui
eide; and 1 know not why our church ha
not nerve and discipline enough to require
the same religious qualification of baptism
and confirmation as preliminaries for tn
L Office of holy matrimOnY. Our rubric pre-
d scribes definitely that persons to be marie,
j shall come into the body of the church witt
their friends and neighbors, or shall b
ready IN some proper house, and the mothe
0 church adds: It Is convenient that tn,
+ new married persons should receive the hol,
o communion at the first opportunity ate
), their marriage.
RESOLUTION on THE SUBJECT.
It Subsequently the Convention adopted tn
s following resolution on the subject
q ResoIUed, That the Deputies representa-;
this Diocese in the next General Convention
= be Instructed to procure by a general Canon
g law, with suitable qualifications, prohibi
@ ton of the use of the marriage service 0
the church In cases where either party con
templating marriage shall have been previ
ously divorced by the civil law, on ground
r other than that of adultery; and also pre-
cure rule Of duty to be followed by Gle:
. gymen whose services are thus applied 70
5 in aseertaining the facts bearing upon sucl