The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-07

trio trouble will disappear; the dinner win
be quickly converted into blood, bone and
muscle. Duffys Malt is the only whiskey
ciassed by the government among medi-
cines..
To be had of all reliable druggists and
grocers. Positively refuse substitutes.
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suit where the ground for action is aduI-
lery, was discussed at the night sermon.
The question a issue was wheth-
er 9the church should regard the
marital contract as absolutely indissolu-
bic, or whether fragrant infdelity dssolv-
cd 1t and permitted the party sinned
against to marry again. Mr. Strong dis
cussed the question at some length. The
present horrible system of loosely severing
the marital bonds and remarrying again
ne characterized as an insult TO morality
ana a danger to the very national life
Conditions have arisen in this country in
this way which remind one more Of life
under the old Roman empire than in this
age of Christian civilization. Divorcing
and remarrying are becoming as easy.
as frequent, and as inimica 10 society's
truest welfare as when i'm Rome the man
had his wife sit On the hearthstone for a
few minutes, rubbed her symbolically with
VOLTS fat, and then thrust her into the
street, no longer his wife. The nations
life rests on the life of the home, and the
lie OF the home rests on the preservat ton
OF the sacredness of the marital tie A
better, higher public sentiment must be
revived
Under the Episcopal Church law as It is
at present no minister has the right to
perform the ceremony of marriage be-
tween parties, one of whom is divorced
except in the case of an innocent party
from the scriptural cause adultery. There
IS no powers in bishop or In priest to mar
ry other than an innocent party as men
toned. If a clergyman has doubts in
case of this kind il is his duty to refer
the matter to the bishop of his diocese
to investigate. After the bishop has ex-
.amined into the facts and rendered his
judgment the clergyman proceeds in ac-
cordance herewith If a clergyman does
otherwise he places himself liable to trial
The sacraments of the church are forbid
den parties who, divorced for other cause
than that referred to, marry again. The
church allows separation, but not absolute
divorce from the bond of matrimony, for
incompatability.
In the proposed canon that was defeat
ed divorce was made an absolute barrier
to Fe-marriage. even to the innocent par
ty where infidelity was the ground for
separation, and clergymen were prohibited
from solemnizing the marriage ceremony
for any divorced person while the other
party was living.
This canon failed in the House of Bish-
ops by quite a considerable vote. Then
an effort, also unsuccessful was made to
amend the existing canon so as to require
a divorced party seeking to remarry to
produce transcript of the record of the
case as proof to satisfy the clergyman, it
naturally being a difficult matter for him,
in many cases, to otherwise ascertain the
correctness of the claim. Mr. Frank H.
Miller of Augusta, one of the delegates
from this diocese, suggested and advocat-
ed this, and while lost, it is the impression
that the special commission, to whom the
entire matter was referred, will largely
adopt his ideas in its report at the next
convention.
Leaving the convention and coming to
the broader bases of his sermon, Mr..
Strong pointed out that there are but two
places where authority for marrying a di-
vorced innocent person, or refusing to
marry such a party, can be had They
are the scriptures and the custom and his
tory of the church. The scrip
lures are pre-eminent in this
respect and the word of Christ is superior
ity the church should draw its conclu-
sions and place itself definitely and con-
clusively before the world. The familiar
passages in st. Marks and ST. Luke's
gospels We're quoted: "Whosoever shall
put away his wife and marry another
committeth adultery" ETC.; and then at
tention was drawn to the passage in St.
Matthews where the exception Is plainly
made that infidelty relieves the innocent
- oh Of a1r far@xr IN
ing again. This one exception, coming
from our Lord, must be taken as the 1ign-
est authority on the subject superior to
the testimony of any church in any age.
No church, as Mr.. Strong viewed it,
should seek to create a canon stricter
or purer than those that were laid down
by Christ himself. Christ, he believed
gave TO the innocent party rights and
privileges by virtue of that innocence ard
no one should seek to be wiser than he
was or attempt to elevate a standard of
purity above that establish
ed by Him. If there
were clergymen, as there might be, who
we're so sensitively conscientious that they
could not use the present form of the
church for marriage when one of the
parties had been divorced, then another
one might be prepared, especially for such |
marriages. But beyond this the church !
should not go. 1t should not pass the !
bounds set by Christ
During his sermon Mr.. Strong stated |
that the church discountenanced clandes- |
tine marriages, or the marriages of mi |
nors except when parents or guardians !
are present, or gave their consent. He |
referred, in this connection, to the dis
raceful system in South Carolina, that |
permitted mere children from this city to |
cross over to that state and be married |
without a license.