The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-14


DR.. Landrum' text was:
Matt. xiv. 4.-'It is not lawful for
thee to have her."
tsOur homes are in PERIL said the
preacher. ssThe foundations of Amer
ican society are threatened. Marriage
is too often mockery. Divorces are
alarmingly frequent; domestic de-
pravity grows apace. According to
the statement Of Hon. Carroll D.
Wright Of the department Of labor, l
should infer that there is no nation on
all the face Of this earth that is so dis
graced as ours BY divorce laws that
are at once SO radical and ridiculous.
His volume Of l, ITO pages Of carefully
sifted and compiled statistics is most
appalling. During the last 20 years
there have been granted in the United
States 312,716 divorces, or nearly a
third Of a million since 1870. What
record Of broken vows and blasted
families
Our population during that time
has increased 66 per cent; our divorces
have increased in that time 157 per
cent. That is the granting Of divorces
has been more than twice the increase
in the population Of the United States
though great crowds Of people have
Hocked to us from all parts Of Europe
and Asia.
ssThe south was slow to catch this
moral disorder. The old south held
to the Bible position on the subject
s Of divorce. Divorce was tolerated
only when one or the other Of the
contracting parties had broken the
marriage vow. Separation was sane
toned BY our. best society when there
was good cause for it. Separation,
however, never looked towards divorce
except as in the case already mentioned.
The Christian family in Georgia up to
the close Of the civil war was we'll
nigh ideal. Alas, it is imperiled to-
day right here in our capital city.
Agitation on the subject Of divorce is
timely. Agitation leads to education
and education to legislation, and legis-
lation is chrystallized public opinion.
Our theme is one which confronts
i every patriot who loves his country
and every parent who loves his family
and every Christian who loves his
God.
a. A.TYpIcAL DIVORCED MAN.
vsAnother John the Baptist must
arise to speak by Gods authority and
in Gods nsme on the sanctity Of the
marriage tie.
'Herod is . typical divorced man.
Herod's case was notorious. His
crime glared in the fierce light which
heats about the throne. Herod Antipas
was . son Of Herod the Great. He
married the daughter Of Artets, king
of Arabia Petraea. Itwas an unhappy
union, but there is no evidence thas
the woman was responsible. 'Incom-
patibility Of temper, so often an ex.
cuse for modern divorces, was ground
enough to induce the conscienceless
tyrant to put away his wife. Really
the treacherous miscreant had become
enamored Of the charms on another
woman whom he had met st Rome.
.sMasculine unchastity and beastli-
ness is the cause Of the great majority
Of dishonored vows and broken hearts
and homes. It is not possible for any
man TO love two women supremely at
the same time. Naturally the old
love must give place to the new. The
new in Herod's case was his ward, a
young woman who had married, possi-
bly, at hisNinstance, his brother, Philip.
From step to step he goes downward
in his infamy, from divorcing his own
wife to debauohing the wife Of another
man, and that man his own brother.
'Lying, seduction, adultery, incest,
outrage on society and insult to God,
mountainous wickedness. And all
this wretched diabolism was flung
into the faces Of all good people by
no ignorant man, NO obscure person,
no impulsive, hot.headed youth, but
by a mature man of broad information,
high position and the very gravest re-
sponsibility. No man in all the
country better knew the law, both hu-
man and divine. That law he had
solemnly sworn to uphold and defend,
bu. tramping on both code and con-
science, he stabbed the honor and
happiness Of both his wife and his
brother, and brazenly proclaimed him
self an anarchist in society and an
atheist in the divine government.
Goods three great institutions are
- ~. .brrch ond the State