The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-05-09
MARRIAGE AND
DIVORCE LAWS
Churches of the Country Have
issued an Appeal.
CAMPAIGN OF EDUCATION
UTAH COMES III FOR SIDE WIPE
at PoLYGAMY.
PHILADELPHIA, May s.-The inter

church conference on marriage
ana divorce, a body representing
officially fourteen leading denomina-
tious, has issued through its secretary
Rev, William III. Roberts, d. D., AN ap-
peal 10 the public, calling attention &c
several aspects of the divorce question
The paper is the beginning OF a ma
tiohai campaign Of education on The
subject, to be followed by efforts to Sc
cure the enactment of laws in the state
legislatures and ultimately, it is
thought. of an amendment to the con
stitutiOn of the United States.
Already action has been taken by tho
conference looking toward the proven
ton of the remarriage, by ministers OF
other c0mmunions. Of Divorces whom
ciregymen Of their own faith have re-
fused 10 marry.
This movement is the first occasion
of any sort upon which the represent
auVes OF the great denominations have
officially come together. The members
Of the conference include many of the
most eminent ecclesiastics and laymeU
In The churches. The appeal says:
Champion Of Education.
Before any civil legislation can be
enacted which viii be operative, and
quite apart from the accord which We
are seeking TO secure in the marriage
regulations Of the Christian churches
must come the leavening of the minds
Of men and women which shall lift
them toward a recognition of the no
blest dignities Of life.
I'VE plead for a recognition of the
sanctity Of marriage. We are facing a
condition in our country today which
threatens danger to the most sacred
things. The very sanctuary of human
life and of human love is assaulted and
prOfaued- Manhood. WOmanhOod and
childhood the home and the family
are involved, and neither civil legisIa-
ton nor ecclesiastical discipline can
save them. until and unless the con-
science Of Christian humanity is
reached Behind the monster of p0lyE-
amy, behind the spectacle Of the lax
divorce court, with its collusiOns. its
cOrruptions and IT'S contagion, stands
the sad fact Of the low ideal of mar
riage.
Marriage sanetified.
Marriage is a holy thing. Marriage
is the institution of God himself and
is sanctihed under the s0lemuities of
the old sanction by our blessed Lord.
This is the root of the natter Refor-
nation must begin here. Children must
be taught h. Young men and young
women must be made To feel it, Pro
tected iH purity boy and girl. man and
woman, alike must be trained TO look
with revereut eyes upon the holiness
of this estate; upon its mysteriousness
as something higher and deeper and
larger than can be measured or reached
by the low ideas Of convenience OF
orldly advantage, of the qualification
OF passion. or by the light and easy
estimate of the consent of the passing
personal fancy and the mutual recOg-
milton of the civil contract.
The hope of curing and crushing the
horrible tendencies to faciie and fire.
quent divorce rests. we believe. upon
impressing and intoxicating such in
tense conviction of what marriage is
and of what marriage means, that it
viii cease to be entered into "un-
sdvisedly or lightly" that the festivity
which accompanies il shall be sObered
and cOnsecrated by the conscious. pres
ence of him who adorned and beautifed
the marriage at Cana i'm Galilee by his
presence and first miracle that he
wrought, that neither man nor woman
shall dare TO enter the precincts of
betrOthaI without the tested certainty
of love, with the fun recognition of the
mutual duty Of service. fOrbearanCe
and faithfUlness which it involves.
Utah Not Alone.
What words can we md to express
the adherence which ought to rise i'm
righteous Indignation against the pres
eDt possibilities and the existing facts
of the divorce habit i'm America. Just
now pOlygamOus Utah looms large and
ugly i'm our minds, bat we must look
nearer home 20 realize the true cOndi-
tion Of things. The proportion Of di-
Norces TO marriages in 1902 in eight
states reporting statistics is as fol-
lows: I'm Maine, 1 to 6. In New Hamp-
shire, / 70 SO; in Vermont, ] to 10: ia
Massa chusetts, Z to Is; in Rhode Is
land. J. to s, i'm Ohio. ] TO SIS. in IN
diana. ] 20 5.6: i'm Michigan. 1 to IL. In
these states there has been a steady
and apid increase in the divorces dur
ing the decade. and this increase is
believed 10 be true of the country at
large.
The fear Of legalized poiygamy in
one state is enhanced by the fact of
unhOly divorce in many states. The
faces Of Christian people must be set
against this The voices of Christian
people must be lifted against this. not
only 10 secure civil legislation, not only
90 enforce church discipline, but to cor
rect the tendency, to control the in
clination and TO condemn the fact We
are piedging for the home for the fam
lily, for the children born and to be
born. FOR the protection of society, and
for the preservation of the state. We
ask YOU. 10 unite with US in earnest
effort. so that more and more the man
hood, the Womanho0d and the child
hood of America may make itself heard
and felt, In the determined purpose to
stem the currents which are sappinE
the foundations of all that is best and
lOHest and dearest I'm human life"
Churches Represented.
The following churches are represent
sd i'm the conference: Protestant Epis-
10pal church i'm the United States.
presbyterian church in the United
states of America. Methodist Episcopal
hurch, Methodist Episcopal church
south. Reformed church i'm America.
United Presbyterian church. Evangel-
cal Lutheran church. the Baptist
churches. the Congregational churches,
he UniveTsalist churches, the Unitar-
am churches, the Reformed Presby-
eriaa church, the Cumberland Presby-
.eriau church. the Alliance Of the Re
.ormed Churches holding the Presby-
erian system.
GAVE HIMSELF UP.