Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-01-23
The Religion Of Marriage.

: BY LADY COOK, NEE TENNESSEE cLAFLIN
The subject of marriage concern
Il everyone so nearly that scarcely tc
. much can be written about it. An
fresh light that can be thrown upon
is of necessity public benefit. Th
Dean of Lichfield must have been {
this opinion when he published hi
3 recent "History of Marriage, Jewisl
4 and Christian, in relation to Divorc
and certain Forbidden Degrees.
Whatever merit it may have as
Church dignltary's plea for extreme
clerical views, as history of Marri'
age it has no value whatever. 1t does
not even tell US what marriage Is, and
the Deans notion of its religious as
pect appears to be confined to the Sin
dissolubillty of the bond" and the in
fanny of marrying deceased wife's
sister. He says of the latter, SIN the
eyes of the Church such amarriage is
incestuous, and no States legislation
can alter this character" but he does
not show why it is thus. The indis-
soluble "oneness" of man and wife is
gravely based upon "the deep signif-
canoe of the mode in which Eve was
created" out of Adams side. He re.
fers to "the belief of not a few OF the
Rabbis--that in the first human
being, man and woman were united
together, and that they were endowed
with seperate existence only when
the latter was formed, but so, never
theless, as still to remain zone flesh.
lie quotes Eusebius, who said, "We
must first learn about mans nature,
for that which we had originally was
not the same which we now have.
Then it was androgynous, in form and
name a combination of both male and
female" This human hermaphrodite,
having the organs and sexes of both
male and female, this monster of
man and a woman combined, is the
good Deans conception of Gods high
est effort in creation whereas the
merest tyro in zoology would tell him
that such being, il it ever existed,
could rank only on par with the
androgynous snails and earthworms
that crawl beneath our feet. Such a
srotesque tale might have done in the
infancy Of intelligence, but now 1t can
only excite good -natured smile Of
pity, except on the countenance of a
Dean.
We learn the nature of marriage
better from poets, historians, and
philosophers, than from priests. The
assistance of the philologists is not to
be desplsed. These tell us that the
word comes from the Latin Maritus. |
and this from Mars, and that Mars
had probably the same origin as the
English words Man and Maid, namely |
the very ancient verb, to may; may
en-, man; mayed, maid; mayer, mar;
msr-is, mars. Chaucer says, "He
which that hath no wife / hold him
shent; he liveth helpless and all desc
lat" The original idea was that
neither man nor maid could live a
full, a manly and womanly life, ex-
cept by being united. This sentiment
is as old as humanity, and existed
long before Christianity or Judaism.
Among the Romans, Mars was the
glorified man and Venus the all-ex-
ceiling woman. 1t was poetic neces-
sity, therefore, that in them valour
and beauty should be joined together,
or as Dryden wrote Of another couple:
"Happy, happy, happy pair!
None but the brave,
None but the brave,
None but the brave deserve the fair!"
Holinshed applies the word "viri-
potent" to young lady to express
that she was mariable. True marri-
age Is the home aud haven of love.
Its state is thus beautifully decribed
by Chaucer:
"Arvlragus and Dorisene his viii
In soveraine blisse leden forth hir III,
Never eff ne was ther anger hem betwene,
he cherished hire as though she were quene, |
And she waE 70 him trewe for evermore."
Ben johnson wrote.
marriage Loves object IL; at vhose bright eyes
he lights bis torches and calls them hi skiei, ]