The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-21
DIVORCE THE FRIGHTFUL EVIL
OF THIS AGE.

in the more thickly settled States and
home life still holds the charm that makes
against this awful curse that threatens
the highest type Of our civilization. II
is the duty Of good North Carolinians 70
seek to nip the blight of divorce in the
bud before it is prevalent in this quiet
and od-fearing old state.
A most sensible, wise and vigorous de-
nunciation of this evil was de-
livered on Sunday by Bishop Sat
terlee in Georgetown. The Wash
ingtou Post says it produced pro-
found impression upon the large congre-
CATION that heard it, His sermon bord-
cred more nearly on the sensational than
any Bishop Satterlee has ever delivered
since he has been at the head of the
Episcopalian church in Washington
The need of the pulpit of America today
is more 'sensationalism" of the sort
that Bishop Satterlce preached-a sem
sationalism that awakes men to the duty
of preserving the home which has, in
too many cases, come to be only the
place to eat and sleep. The following is
the Washington Posts report of the
sermon:
'The Jews are preserving the home and
family better than we Christians are do
ing. | do not know how to account for
this, but do know it to be a fact"
Bishop Satterlec made this declaration
in a sermon of unusual force and interest
at Christ church, Georgetown, last night.
The occasion OF the bishops presence at
Christ church was the confirmation of a
large class. After conducting the con-
firmation services, Bishop Satterlee talk
ed to the congregation informally, but
with intense carnestness, for nearly an
hour. He scarcely referred to the notes
which lay before him. He spoke from the
text, I'VE are Witnesses" The main
subject of his remarkable discourse was
divorce. The very foundation of our
civilization was threatened by the growth
of divorce, declared the bishop and he
appealed eloquently to the church to
fight shoulder to shoulder against this
most dangerous evil of the age
why" he exclaimed, within the last
two weeks two Of my friends have told
me they intended to seek divorces. What
does this mean? Where will it stop"
When l was young man." said
Bishop Satterlee, 81 used to visit New
York City frequently. When 1 called on
friends there / usually found the family
sitting together around table playing
whist or some other innocent game CT
cards, reading books together or other
wise entertaining themselves. Now,
when J call at homes l seldom find any
of me family In. The father is at his
Tub, the sons and daughters are at the
theatre or seeking idle pleasure in some
other form and the mother, if at home
at all, is upstairs planning other social
conquests.
CRAZE TO KEEP UP WITH THE TIMES
What is true of New York is true of
Washington. The home is becoming-if
it has not already become-merely the
place to eat and sleep. l know why men
do not go to church. The cause is found
In the men and not in the church. 1t is
because they are losing respect for the
home and caring less for the family-the
unit OF our civilization. A craze to keep
up with the times has seized the minds
of men and women who ought to be
Christians in fact as well as in name
Here in Washington, the men stay at
home Sunday morning to read the papers
in the belief that by so doing they are
keeping up with the times, instead of
leading their families to church. The
result of this is that other members of
the family go out to Cabin John Bridge
or Glen Echo or some other pleasure re-
sort in place Of going to church."
The head of the family is to blame for
this, declared Bishop Satterlee, and on
the shoulders of the husband and fathers
of the land rests the responsibility for
the low estate to which the family has
fallen in this country This fostered and
encouraged the greatest curse of the age
divorce and the loose manner in which
tho sacred marriage vows were being
kept. Rome, the greatest and most pow
erful empire the world had ever known
fell because the family ties were loosened
and then broken. This country would go
the way OF Rome if halt were not call
cd and the family restored to its proper
place of influence in our civilization.
COMMENDS THE PRESIDENT.
The father of a family who trains his
sons and daughters to respect the laws
of God in respect to the church and the
marriage obligations" exclaimed Bishop
Satterlee in a burst of eloquence, docs
more good for the country than any mem
Der of Congress-
President Roosevelt, he said, had touch
ed upon this subject and the dangers that
lurked behind the growth of divorce,
when at a religious convention a year
ago, he declared that in every age there
was one great problem at the center OF
the gigantic struggle between the forces
OF good and evil. 1.-The great evil-the
most frightful danger-of our age is di-
vorce and the breaking down of the
family institution said the bishop,
reterating and emphasizing his conten-
tion. "If it is not stopped the women of
this country and of our race will he de-
graded within fifty years" Then Bishop
Satterlce declared that the Jews respect
cd the homo and observed their family
obligation better than Christians.
1t seems that the old hulk called the
Morning Post. born in indecency and iiv-
ing upon nothing but rottenness, is pos
ing as a moral guide. When a subsi-