St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-11

SO surprising, in view of the fact that If
the Mosaic plan of allowing every man
to write out his own bill of enforcement
prevailed two-thirds of the Chicago
lawyers would have to quit business,
and at least one-half of the judges be
retired from Office.
Still, there are some things in Judge
HoRToN's remarkable address which
merit consideration. Those who hold
that marriage is a divine institution, and
not mere legal contract. do not admit
that the Mosaic plan of permitting di-
vOrce for special causes received divine
sanction. They assert that MOSES him
self was conscious Of the wrongfulness
of his legislation, but he permitted it as
a matter of eXpediencv, just as Christian
lawmakers nowadays enact high license
laws. and permit pool selling within the
Enclosures of race course. He did it
because of his inability to subdue the
hardness of heart which prevailed
among the Israelites, and not because
that it was right per Sc. That theory is
apparently sustained by the New Tesla
ment, wherein Christ Himself asserts
that MOSES went contrary to the divine
will. 1t is in this connection that the
text ''What God hath joined together let
no man PIT asunder'is used, and which
Judge HORTON undertakes to show
had no application to divorces. He adj
mits that the context indicates that
Christ had the divorce question in
mind at the time He was speaking. Still
he is of the opinion that the case is not
reported correctly. There were no Off
cial stenographers in those days, and
according to Judge Horizons theory
the man who reported Christ's sermons
made worse botch of IT than the aver
age newspaper reporter makes of pull
pit discourse in these days. He is salts
fed in his own mind that part of the
discourse has been left out, and that
when Christ used the expression,
"What God hath joiued together let no
man put asunder," He had passed on
to another subject and was talking
about something entirely foreign to the
marriage relation.
1t is this feature of Judge Horizons
QdulOOO WilOll w LII oIuloSt VIZ hhOoo Uu
tention, and which will perhaps receive
more of popular Endorsement than
anything else he has said. He denies
the divine institution of marriage, and
gives two specific reasons for his denial.
In the first place, it involves an admis-
sion of the Soundness of the CalviniStic
doctrine of foreordination and predes-
tination, which would utterly deprive
man of anything like free agency. In
the second place, he argues, the alb
surdity of the proposition is apparent
on the face of it. There are so many
misft marriages in this world it would
be dishonoring God to charge upon
Him the responsibility for all the
bungling jobs that are turned out. He
ridicules the accepted idea that matches
are made in heaven, because it is entirely
beyond the limit of human faith to be-
lleve that there could have been joy
among the angels over some marriages
that have come under his observation
during his judicial career. 1t is not
very difficult matter for most people to
concur with Judge HORTON on this prop
osition, for most every one has some
case in mind where the marriage rela-
tons were entered into under condi-
tons and influences that are wholly in
consistent with the popular belief con
corning the way things are done in
heaven. Hence the learned judge ar
CUES that marriage being purely
human Institution, designed to promote
the morals and social welfare of the
people, it is competent for the courts to
annul the marriage contract whenever
it appears that the purposes of the mar
rage relation have failed of accomplish
ment.
AS yet there are those, and plenty of
them, who are prepared to take issue
with Judge HORTON. 1t may be hard
for them to reconcile themselves to the
belief that all marriages are made in
heaven, yet they will contend that it is
better for society to fall back on the
law of Him "who spake as never man
spake." which denies the right of di-
vorce except for single cause, than to
risk the evils which grow out Of our
prevailing divorce laws. AS they look
at it, courts and legislatures may pay a
premium for family discord and offer
bride to absolve husbands and wives
from the solemn responsibility they
have sworn before God and men to full
fill; but every such violation of Gods
eternal law brings with it its certain
curse. The state may and must protect
the children. 1t may and ought to pun
ish the brutal husband and faithless
wife. But it wrongs humanity and
commits treason against God when III
violation of His commands it gives to its
citizens the right to desecrate marriage.
The evils which grow out OF divorce in
crease in fearful ratio, nor can they be
hedged in, for there are no limitations
which divorce lawyers and divorce
courts will not exceed. Thus it is the Or
thodox will reason in opposition to
Judge HoRToN's new departure of sup
porting the divorce system on Scrip
tural grounds, and of attempting to
reconcile it to the teachings of Chris
tianity.