The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-17
FORBIDDEN MARRIAGES.


| FORBIDDEN MARRIAGES..
Laws of the Episcopal Church, as to the
Marriage of Relatives, To Be Considered
by the Convention.
Philadelphia Press,
Among the many matters which will come
up before the present trennial Episcopal
convention for its consideration there is
none of more general interest or Importance,
or about which the vast body of laymen are
| so little informed as that relating to mar
riages with relatives. The attitude of the
| church upon the question, as set forth III its
canons. is thought to be unsatisfactory and
obscure. For this reason there has never,
/ within recent times, arisen an organized at
| tempt to construct blood marriages, except
where the contracting parties were more
nearly related than first cousins. For many,
many years the sole theoretical guide in
! these matters has been the ''old table of kim
! dred and affinity This table formerly ex-
| listed in the form of a declaration issued in
| 1903 by the House of Episcopal Bishops. 1t
} Will appear matter OF profound amazement
, to many, in these latter DAYS of indiscrimi-
nate, soulless, greed-for-money marriages,
how the good old gentlemen, even with all
the precepts of the scriptures and the an
cient Romish Church before their eyes, could
| contrive and propagate decree forbidding
sixty distinct ties with near relations with
out RELOCATING the male biped to hopeless and
perpetual singlehood. How many of the p
Gus who have since lived and died would
| have been sacrificed upon the ecclesiastical
altar had the church undertaken to prescribe
even the spirit OF the letter of her musty
| statute? And how great would have been
the detection in the ranks OF that innumera-
| bic host as countless as the leaves in the for
est of Vallambrosa, had not many of the
| provisions of the statute been long ago pro-
claimed a dead letter?
1t was not until 1877 that the subject of
marriages with relatives was brought before
| a general convention of the EpiSco pal Church.
! AT that time a committee Joint committee
| was appointed from the House of Deputies
| and the House of Bishops to consider the de-
! cree of 1903 and report upon the ma
ture of the degrees heretofore prohibited in
the old table of kindred and affinity. The
| table was exhumed. Here it is, Just as it
| stood nearly ninety years ago:
A man may not marry may not
! his marry her
| Grandmother, Grandfather,
Grandfather's wife, Granamo others hus
! band,
| Wife's grandmother Husbands grandfather
! Fathers sister, Fathers brather,
| Mothers sister, Mothers brother,
Fathers brothers wife, Fathers sisters hus-
Mothers brotner'swife, MorneF's sisters hus-
band,
Wife's fathers sister, Hus ba DIS fathers
wife's mothers sister, Husbands mothers
| brother,
Mother, Father,
| SteUmother, Stcptather,
| Wife's mother, Husbands father,
| Daughter. Son,
| Wife's daughter, husbands son.
Sons wife, Daughters husband,
| Sister, Brother,
Wife's sister, husbands brother,
| BROTHERS. wife, Sisters husband
| Sons daughter, Sons son,
| Daughters daughter, Daughters son,
Sons sons wife, Sons daughters hus-
| nj,
Daughters sons wife, Daughters daughters
husband,
| Wife's sons doughter Husbands sons son,
| fe's Il aug ter'S Husbands daughters
daughter, son,
Brothers daughter, Brothers son,
Sisters daughter, Sisters son,
Brothers sons wife, Brothers daughters
husband,
Sisters sons wife, Sisters daughters nus-
hand,
| Wife's brothers daugh- Husbands brothers
| ter,
Wifes sisters daughter Husbands sisters son.
The only degrees of relationship, as enum-
Grated in the old table, which suggest any
question OF scriptural obligation, are three,
| to-wit, in the case OF man. his
Wlfe's sister.
| Wife's brothers daughter
| Wife's sisters daughter.
In commenting upon the decree of 1908
the majority report Of the committee of 1877
used the following strong language:
The severity with which the present state of
! the law bears on a few individuals who have
| been united in wedlOck in defiance of them. en-
titles them to our sympathy, il they have inEo-
Gently encountered themselves i'll This way. But
it is great duty of the church to warn her chill
dren against even questionable conduct in mat
tiers SO serious. To mitigate the peu alties of In
| discretion by removing all obstacles to conduct
| which has always been censured by Christian
moralists, is to stimulate the multiplication Of
cases which can never be wholly freed from
faint OF illegitimacy.
In conclusion the report recommends the
passage by the convention OF the old table of
kindred and affinity wherein whosoever
are related are forbidden in Scripture TO
marry together" By unanimous consent
however, this resolution lay over until the
next general convention, in 1880. The
minority report upon the same sub
Ject was, in substance, a defense
of marriage with a deceased wife's
sister and an appeal to the general conven-
ton not to pass the decree of 1903 as the au-
thoritatiye dctum of the church. In this
shape the matter now stands. The entire
subject is before the committee on caEons,
who will make lengthy report to the pres
ent convention. They are considering the
old table of kindred and affinity with re-
Spect to several important abridgements and
restrictions suggested by prominent church
scholastics, and may be expected to consider
the much veXed question of marriage with a
deceased wife's sister, which may readily be
conceded to include deceased husband
! brother.
1t is obvious by glancing at the table that
in the case of only half of the ties referred to
is there any possibility of there arising any
faint of illegitimacy"-or, in other words,
where there could be any faint OF kin-blood
| Among the comm ODest of these instances