Connecticut western news., 1883-03-21

ference, that his polygamy is simultane- ous and ours consecutive. The Mormon can have as many wives at once as he can maintain ; the skillful divorcer can also have many, only not all at once, but one after the other, as fast as he can decently or indecently make the desired changes. Nay, under that system, were it generally established, there would be no more wives, strictly so called; but these wretched creatures, each taken by some form deemed sufficient by the law, each dropped by some other form apt for that purpose, not bound to man for life, but only during his pleasure or her own, these degraded and humiliated beings would not be wives, but simply regis tered concubines."
 After brief statement of the ''civil contract theory of marriage" Dr. Dix showed the connection of the evil with some of the social and religious heresies of the day. "The civil contract theory of marriage is an outgrowth of that sys- tenn which banishes God from the world and from human life. It is a principle of rationalized community, of 8 society which has ceased to be Christian. Some of us are reproached for not being in ac- cord with the spirit of the age and its movements, but the spirit of the age and it's movements are practically atheistic. To drop all religious ideas, to cease to recognize Gods will and law, to teach men to live without God, is the aim of the modern reformer, and his views of marriage are one among the signs of his general state of mind. Unfortunately, we cannot stop here. The truth must be told. This is not only a sign of an infdel society; it is also an upgrowth from the system known as Protestant ism, There can be no doubt as to the genesis of this abomination.
 After an exhaustive consideration of the subject, under the differing Protest ant and Catholic theories and doctrines, enforcing the postulate that marriage is not merely civil contract, but divine institution, in its nature sacred and in- violable, the lecturer concluded as fol lows: 'Let the woman remember that it is the religion of Jesus Christ which has sanctifed her person and exalted her sex; that every word which Christ uttered touching her in her relation to man, as maid, as wife, as widow, is for her a word of life; that there is not, and can not be, a work more urgent for her, or more essential to her safety and honor, than to see that those words of Christ are kept perpetually before the commu- nitv, blazoned and illuminated as the very talisman of social security. Harm enough has come to her already under the pretense of bettering of her condi- tion. The law of God makes the man and the woman one flesh; it gives hel rights which he must recognize. But the law of man in revolt from God tends l to divide the man and wife, treats them as two independent persons, gives the woman separate position and separate interests. From this state it is an easy step to personal separation. But when, if ever, woman obtains complete inde- pendence, she may find herself crushed under burdens too great for her to bear. Then this will be the history: That she whom God lifted up from the state oi concubinage and slavery, and crowned with honor and glory as Christian wife, will, after having turned away from God to follow her own desires, sink back tc be once more mans slave and concubine' The conditions may vary to match the altered aspects of the world; the thing will be the same; the lapse will be into the old misery and bitterness, and once more shall the iron enter into her soul and the letters be riveted to her limbs and there shall be weeping and wailine and gnashing of teeth"