The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-11-01
MATRIMONIAL OBEDIENCE.
Woman's obligations to Obey Her Hus-
band Before the Churches.


band Before the Churches.
New Woman" has been agitating
this most important question of matri-
monial obedience in the columns Of an
English paper, with special reference to
the word stobey'' as it occurs in the
marriage service in the Book Of Com
mon Prayer. both IN the Anglican
church and in that of the Episcopal
church of this country. Why should
woman say ssobey'' when she has not
the slightest intention of obeying2 That
is the question 1t is vow and oath
which 80 women out of 100 who have
the good fortune to find husband have
not the slightest intention of keeping.
The curious feature in the discussion is
the fact that the word obey is Pc
culiar to the Anglican order of the sol
ennnlzation Of matrimony and does not
occur in the marriage service Of the
Roman Catholic church.
The promise of the woman in the
Anglican church and in the Protestant
Episcopal church of America runs thus:
!, N, take thee. NJ, to be my welded hus-
band, to have and to hold from this day for
ward, for better, for worse, for richer, for
poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cher
ish and obey till death us do part, according to
my troth-
The form in the sacrament of matri-
mony as it stands in the prayer book Of
the Church Of Rome is as follows.
J. NJ, take thee N, for my welded husband,
to have and to hold from this day forward,
for better, for worse for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health till death do rs part,
if holy church viii it permit and thereto 4
plight thee my troth-
1t is therefore evident that the word
s'obey," which is such an offense to
t'New Woman. :" is not some remnant
Of medieval barbarism, but was intro
duced into the Protestant church in an
enlightened age, when Henry VIII, of
matrimonial memory, was king.
1t seems a pity that New Woman
has raised this controversy, because
there is surely no sane man in the world
who would insist upon obedience as a
necessary part of a wife's duties 1t Is
true that the Apostle Paul, IN the good
old times. did advise Titus, the bishop
of Crete, to exhort 1.-The young women
to be keepers at home, good, obedient
to their own husbands, and that St.
Peter, who was himself a married man,
did say something about Ye wives be
in subsection 80 your husbands - And
it is probable that at the reformation,
when people began to read their Bibles,
the word -sobey'' was introduced to the
service Of the Protestant Book of Com
mon Prayer as being q somewhat Scrip
tural view Of che relations between man
and wife. The nineteenth century, with
its women's political leagues and di-
vorce courts, has, however, got little
beyond the antiquated views of St. Paul
and St. Peter, and there is not a man
among US who would dare to support
the views of even an inspired apostle
when the question of the freedom ana
the authority of woman is raised
r 10.
of New Woman" not to obey, but it
is impossible to settle this question Of
wifely obedience. A country rector in a
corner of Yorlshire once found it i'm
possible to get the bride to say obey"
when the bridegroom, q son Of the soil,
who took a practical view of life. said
.'Oh, never mind. sir, I'll make her
say it when we get home.
AS matters now stand in this old dis
Pensation when a man usually pays his
wifes bills and carries the baby. the po-
sition of the husband would seem to be
pretty well expressed in an old Scot
fish song, which Is frequently sung at
New Years family gatherings by the
merry, kindly, rubicund old uncle Of the
family TO the uproariOus delight-in the
end-of all but the ladies. who. after
dinner, never would admit the suprem-
acy of man:
Old Adam was laid in a slum-burr,
And a rib taken out of his side,
And when he awolze from his slum-burr,
He beheld his most beautiful bride.
She not taken out of his head-surr,
TO rule and triumph him,
Nor was she taken out Of his foot-surr,
BY him to be trampled on;
But she was taken out Of his side-surr,
His fellow and equal to be;
But when they're united in one-surr.
The Is the top of the treei
ssAnother New Woman, writes: I
''Surely the words, according to Gods /
holy ordinance, mean according to all /
that conscience permits and dictates. I
The whole tenor of St Paul's teaching (
must 20 to prove that he would never \
have wished a further obedience than 7
this, and yet this is what man IS 50 slow 7
to concede. ST. Paul rather echoes and .
chimes in with the dominant thought
of all high minded men of today, Of /
which Professor Ruskin. in his Sesame I
and Lilies, is the pioneer, that woman 4
is to be reverenced as one Of themselves; 4
that, hand IN hand with man, she is
called to forward the progression Of the 7
race. -
Here the controversy ends. &C. A. in
New