The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-07


 again, If in1 presence in your eonven- tion be permitted in the providence of God, to promote in any degree the eff cency of our churchs life as a banded force for the bettering of what Is amiss in public or in private things, for the ceaseless fight against impunity and sell fshness and greed, against ignorance and apathy, against cowardice and half heartedness, shall rejoice indeed" Report on Divorce.
 The report on divorce submitted at todays meeting by Dr. Houston Eccles- ton of Baltimore, was in part as fol- | lows:
 "The commission having met and or | ganized, appointed Bishop Doane, the | Rev. pr. Greer and Mir Francis Lind | Stetson as a subcommittee to carry out | the purpose of the resolution under which | the commission was appointed, and In response to the note addressed by the | subcommittee to the representative or | ganizations of otter religious bodies, a | conference was called, which held it's first meeting on the 18th of January in | New York. The conference was organ | ized under the title or the Inter-Church | Conference of marriage and divorce by | the election of Bishop Doane as chair man, and the Rev. Dr. W. II. Roberts as secretary. u has held several meet ings, increased In numerical and repre- sentative attendance, and interest and directness of result. It has adopted the following resolutions which are reported as being the results so far attained: Resolved That in recognition Of the comty whic.l should exist between chris | tian churches, 1t is desirable and would tend to an increase of the spirit of chris | tian unity for each church represented | in the conference to advise, and if ec- | clesiastical authority will allow to en- | join It's ministers to refuse to unite in | marriage any person or persons whose | marriage such ministers have good reason | to believe is forbidden by the laws of the | church in which either party seeking tC be married holds membership
 | A committee of the conference in ref erence to the question of state and nation | al legislation made a report of whlci | the closing paragraph Is:
 | Harmony Is Doubtful.
 That 1t Is possible to produce harmon. | in place of the prevailing want of uni formity may seriously be doubted. l | would not only require uniform legisla | ton at a particular period, but that tn statutes of the several states upon tn | subject of divorce and re-marriage shoul' | remain unchanged, or should only b changed by common consent so that tn | original uniformity should continue t prevail What if any success can atten'
 an effort in this direction, will depend ma
 terially upon the possibility that th
 churches represented in the conference
 shall agree upon a uniform canon to ap
 ply to their church members and clergy Whether this is possible the conference can determine. but the committed reached the decision that if this be impos. sible, the task of endeavoring to bring ou' , legislative harmony certainly VIII DC
 hopeless The states are not likely 10 co-
 operate immediately in producing uni form laws more stringent than the exist,
 Ing laws of the majority of the several states and their report having been con sldered in the conference, II was re-
 solved:
 That the report of the committee oi
 national and state Legislation be recom- nItted 10 the committee for further iH-
 otiirv. and for suggestions as to the best | rnethods of securing such uniformity Of
 law and usage among the churches as may tend to secure legislative harmony.
 Ask to Be Continued.
 "Acting under the following resolutions
 That the executive committee be author
 ized to prepare and issue in their dis
 cretion declaration and appeal to the
 public as to the sanctity of marriage and the grave dangers of existing laxity
 through the frequency of divorces, the
 committee issued the address and ap
 peal, which is respectfully communicated
 to the convention. and the commission reporting progress, asks to be continued | By Every Member of the Committee
 '',rhe Bishop of Albany Doane), | Maryland CPareD,
 Rhode Island CMcVicker).
 'Bishop Coadjutor of N. Y. Greer,
 "Rev. Drs. Ellison, Fulton and Lay,
 Deputies Stetson, Bradford and Old
 The address and appeal to the public