The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-10-17

or hundreds or thousands of men whom she has known, the one man to whom her heart goes out in reverent love and of whom her soul says, This is now my lover and my lord
 Sad indeed 1t Is that silly speech, and sensuous story and the selfish lusts of men and women have dishon- ored and debased thing so holy-sad that Eden thould be lost-that from the nuptial ceremony the Lord whom brought the woman to Adam, should be absent: sad that sin and suffering and sorrow should be found where holi- ness and peace and joy should abide. But a blessed thing it Is that the Lord yet walks among men, even without the graden, that the bride is yet led by love and that the benediction of peace and joy and hope yet rests upon them whom love and live according to Gods law of marriage.
 Very suggestive, too,is this old story in that it shows one woman made for the one man. and all the more sugges- tive of it's inspiration in that it was written by people among whom poly
 
 too is that mysterious law of nature, whose secret source no man under stands, by which the number of the sexes is kept equal: for there is born about one hundred girls to every one hundred and four or five boys, the nor tality of boys in infancy and of mel in mature life being a little greater than the mortality of girls and women. This law which God has written in na- ture shows that God intends one wo- man for one man. Any departures from this law which can be justly sanctioned must be the result of social conditions which have come in to modify the normal conditions of creation.
 Very suggestive, again, is this old story in it's statement that woman was taken from the side of man. Very merry have men made themselves-especia in proportion to their ignorance Of scripture and lack of insight into the spirits of things-over this story of the rib.
 But the Hebrew word-tzeh-la-he translated rib, is everywhere else in the Bible translated and used sometimes to denote complementary parts ike one of two folding doors. We must not confound the form of figurative and poetic writing with the fact which 1t describes. The record says, God made woman from the side of man; beyond that fact it does not describe how God made her. The fundamental fact is that she is one side of humanity; one ,oIf hot f,t1 complete in man and woman, for either without the other would cease to be- There is an ancient theory that origi- nally man was a compound or double being-man and woman combined-ano that the creation of woman was the separation of the parts. The Talmud- Jewish commentary on the ancient scriptures-seems to favor this view But the truth here taught is that wo- man is mans equal, his partner, his complement, to be honored, loved and lived with in holy marriage.
 Marriage then is an ordinance o1 God. Marriage finds it's origin, its functions and it's duties In the constitution of man. Marriage is the normal condition of human life Obedience to the law of marriage is normally, the condition of complete character and perfect life. I say normally, as being true of men ano | women as a rule. There are circum- stances and conditions wherein the | finer affections of the heart are devel- 1 oned without the assumption of the marriage bond. And Jesus Himself hal said that if any for higher loves sake | or for the kingdom of heavens sake is | able to receive this life of unwedded | love and holy service let him receive it l But Jesus has not said that such | life is holier than that life which serves | God in welded love.
 "There are some differences to be | drawn from this love of marriage.
 '1 It is a mistake to teach, as has
 sometimes been done, that a celibate ant | unwedded life Is essentially holier thar l a life of wedlock. Many poor sisters | of charity and doubtless many priests | also, on intimate acquaintance, would l reveal the unrest of hungry heart ant | the sadness of lonely life.
 | "2. All those social and temporary re | lations which men and women assume | to fulfill the law of the body, while the,
 refuse to obey the law of the heart, thu | law of love which is the law of life l must be condemned socially and con | demned legally. The moral degredatiol and the physical debasement Whicl | follow the practical denial of spirtua
 law and obedience simply to the law O lust are the visible evidence of the d
 vine condemnation and judgment--th 1 flaming sword which God has set t.
 keep the way of social life.
 ''3. No man or woman has a right needlessly, and without the best of req
 sons, to refuse marriage. Where tn
 way of marriage Is not the way whicl opens before one the failure to ente
 the marriage state Is not one for whicl the man or woman is responsible; bu | such cases are relatively few. Bu
 the man or woman who declines mar | riaee because of unwillingness to as
 sume the responsibilities, or to bea
 the burdens or to discharge the dutie
 of married life refuses thereby to obe,
 Gods law of life and will be dwarfe
 in heart and spirit by the selfish choic;
 II. No man has the right to put any !