The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-06-03
CAMPAIGN AGAINST
DIVORCE GRANTING
tnterchurch Conference on the
Subject Coupled With Mar
riage Issues an Appeal.
STRONG MOVEMENT
It is the Hope of the Conference to Dis
close Evil of Divorce and Event
ually to Secure Constitutional
Amendment.

uaIlY 10 SCCuFG SOnSIitCIiOnuI
Amendment.
Philadelphia Special: The inter-
church conference on marriage and d.
vorce, u body representing officially
fourteen leading denominations. has is
sued through its secretary, Rev. Will
tam II. Roberts. d. D., an appeal to the
public calling attention to several as
poets of the divorce question.
The paper is the beginning of a ma
tional campaign of education of the
subiect. to be followed by the efforts to
secure the enactment OF laws in the
state legislatures. and ultimately, is is
thought, OF an amendment to the on
~stitution of the United States.
Already action has been taken by the
conferenee looking toward The preven-
tor OF the remarrlage by ministers
OF other comnun.ons OF divorces whom
clergyrnen OF their own faith have re-
fused to marry.
Loading Churches Complain.
This movement Is the first occasion
OF any sort upon which the representa-
tives CT the great denominations have
officially come together. The members
of the conference include many of the
most eminent e~cceliastics and layunen
In the churches. The denominations
which subscribe to the appeal are:
Protestant Episcopal church In the
Episcopal church; Methodist Episcopal
Church South; Reformed Church of
America: Reformed Church In the
United States; United Presbyterian
church; Evangelical Lutheran church;
the Baptist churches; the Congrega-
churches: the Unitarian churches; the
Reformed Presbyterian church: the
Cumberland Presbyterian church: the
Alliance of the Reformed churches
holding the Presbyterian service.
Text of the Appeal.
appeal:
"On behalf of the representatives OF
The fourteen churches composing the
lnter-church conference. which during
the past two years has held frequent
meetings for the consideration of the
important subject of marriage and d.
vorce, we have been instructed to Is
que his first general address and APP
peal.
1T is proposed to issue other appeals.
as occasion may require, In the hope
that the influence of this representative
conference may be brought to bear eff
fectively upon ecclesiastical and civil
courts and legislative bodies. for the
securing OF better conditions and for
VIC 0CiiNS - IN VI NA'S SA'1 -N''NN
from impending evils.
Before any civil legislation can be
enacted which Will be operative and
quite apart from the accord which we
are seeking to secure In the marriage
regulations of the Christian churches,
of men and women which shall lift
them toward a recognition of the
MODEST dignities of life.
First of all we plead for the cultiva-
ton of the grace and purity; for the
careful guarding of children within the
for the realization OF the dignity of our
physical nature lifted to such high hon
or by the Incarnation.
Saoredness of Marriage.
w plead for a recognition of the
sanctity of marriage. We are facing
= condition In our country today whict
threatens danger to the most sacred
things. The very sanctuary OF human
life and OF human love Is assaulted ant
profaned. Manhood, womanhood ant
Childhood, the home and the family
are involved. and neither civil legisla-
ton nor ecclesiastical discipline car
save them, until and unless the con.
science Of Christian humanity i:
reached Behind the monster of poly
gamy, behind the specter of the la,
divorce court, with Its collisions, IT.
corruptions and its contagion. stand!
the sad fact of the low Ideal of mar.
rage. 1t ie true that the element o
mutual consent and the element o
legal contract enter into 1t; but under
meath and behind these, as the sur,
foundation, stand the revelation o
Gods holy word. God at first brought
a woman to q man, one woman to on
man, to whom ne shall cleave, SO tina
In Gods purpose and Gods sight the.
are one flesh. The primal marrlag
was followed by centuries Of hardene'
hearts and avs lowered or lost, unit
at last Christianity was connected b.
tho old law which he laid down at tn
.creahan. Have yet not read that h
which made them at the p%eg1nnin'
made them male and female, and said
For thia cause shall q man leave hi
father and mother and cleave unto hi
n Te : ana they twain sha' be on
Reformation Must Begin.
Marriage is a holy thing. Marriag
ts the institution of God himself and /
sanctined under the solemnities of tn
old sanction by our blessed Lord. Thi
taught 1t. Young men young WON
y On must be made to feel it. Protecte
in purity, boy and girl. man and WON
reverent eyes upon the holiness G
this estate; upon it's mvsteriousnes
as something higher and deeper an
larger than can be measured by tn
low ideas of conveniences, of worldl
advantage. of the qualification of pas
eton. or by the light and easy estimat
Iof the consent Of the passing persona
Fancy and the mutual recognition c
the civil contract.
The hope Of curing and crushing tn
horrible tendencies to facile and fire.
'quent divorce rests, we believe. upo
,impressing and inculating such an in
tense conviction Of what marriage /:
and Of what marriage means. that
will cease to be entered into "unad
ivisedly or lightly" that the f~estivit
which accompanies it shall be sobere
and consecrated by the conscious pres
ence OF him who adorned and beauti
flied the marriage at Cana in Galilee b
his presence and first miracle that h
wrought" that neither man nor woma
shall dare to enter the precincts of be
trothal without the tested certainty {
love; without the full recognition c
the mutual duty OF %service, forebear
ance and faithfulness which it involve:
Divorce Habit In America.