The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-08-07

From q Boston Minister'S Sermon.
He preached, in response to many
special requests, on Marriage, taking
for his text Genesis ii, 21-24. He SAID
the subject of marriage was taken be-
cause ofits intrinsic Importance and it's
fundamental relations to all social or.
der. Thecommunity are now infear Ola
coming pestilencet that will bring death
and destruction in the summer. Eff
forts are being made to ward off this
enemy and prevent It's fearful work,
but at the same time another pesti-
lence is on the way and it's black fringe
is touching us. IT. is far more danger
Gus than any other conceivable one,
from the fact thatit menaces the home,
the greatest of all institutions. In
Massachusetts In 1860 there was one
divorce to fifty marriages, in 1915 one
to every twenty, and In 1888 one to
everyfourteen. In New England 1000
families are broken upby divorce every
year.
This alone is an appalling state of
affairs. Along with the increase in
divorce moral poison has increased.
In..the period between 1S6O-70div0rce
increased two and one-balf times in
frequency whilecrimes against chastity
and morality increased three-fold.
The question then comes: Has not
looseness of legislation fostered loose
ness of social life, and how long will it
take to bring the ratio of divorce to
marriage to an equity? Then the
home as an institution will be de-
stroyed, and the millennium of hell
will be here. The marriage bond is
sinking in the public estimation to a
mere civil contract, and there
needsto be a ~reassertion of the divine
origin of marriage. The Roman Catho-
lie church is not responsible for
any of this state of affairs, be it said
to it's credit. Thedifficulty is, that sub
ordinate reasons OF a profane nature
have undermined the sacred element.
Marriage has become the stepping
stone to improve family connections,
to gain admission to society, to gain
power, and many like things. The
young man looks for wealth, the girl to
gaining her own way. The meaning Of
the institution seems to be misappre-
hended. For this process OF disinte-
grafton something is needed besides
prohibitory legislation. 1t is not the
lack off d high IDEAL that renders so
many marriages of our day a series Of
| social disasters? 1t must be religion
and morality in itsIhighest sense: The
| ideal must be raised in the populara and
youthful mind. The underlying ideal
and primeval principle is moral, not
| physical or material. Theidea isthat
it is not good for man to bealone, and
| so woman was made as his compile
ment, his I'VE The fundamental
principle is companionship. There is
nothing equal to the dreariness Of q
heart that has been torn from it's
| counterpart by death. The unmar-
ried man or woman must have some
thing as a substitute, either ingreater
work or larger interests to that self-cen-
tered selfshness which makes the term
"old maid or bachelor" opprobious.
True marriage is the greatest moral
good, an actual and absolute surrend-
er of the individual unit. The only
higher act is surrender to God. True
marriage is a redemptive force, and Is
aimed to destroy selfshness andteach
us the secret Of living for Others and
not for ourselves. The social value of
the institution is inevitably salutary
iii n social organization. Somelook
upon marriage in the same way as the
pairing ofbirds in spring. Hewhodoes
take this purely physical view is lower
than bird or beast. This danger can
only be averted when young men and
women look at matrimony as means
of moral elevation and spiritual en-
lightenment.