The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-10-23

resisting the insolence and sensual
ty of L othaire, Pope Clement VII,
losing the Kingdom of England to
Catholicty through refusing to grant
a divorce to Henry VIII, and Plus
VII, suffering imprisonment rather
than grant a divorce to Napoleon
from Josephine, and many other in
stances in the history of the church.
To those who would deny the right
of Christ to lay down the seemingly
stringent moral law that marriage is
binding ''till death do us part we
would ask first, "Do you believe that
Christ ever lived on earth.'' And if
he has read history he will answer
eyes, And again EYES" when We
ask him if He died, and lastly, did
He rise again from the dead! AS no
intelligent man whose opinion is
worth solicitig will deny that histor-
zeal fact, he admits in admitting that
fact-the Divinity of Christ Who
alone could perform such a miracle
which III itself verifes the account of
all the other miracles, including the
marriage of Cana, and thus proving
He was God.
Therefore [ claim to have proved
that Christ was God, and as God He
instituted the sacrament of matrimO-
ny, and He alone could name the con-
dltlOns and terms on which it could
be contracted, and as he pronounced
the bond indissoluble till death in
te1'vened, and as this is the doctrine
preached and the standpoint taken
by the Catholic Church. she is teach
ing the doctrine of Christ and is
teaching the truth, and those who
enunciate and promulgate the doe
trine of "divorce for cause are in
error. With this conclusion We will
proceed to view the subject from
the standpoint of the world or So
ciety.
There is nothing more striking to
the philosophic mind than to observe
at a wharf large sea-going steam
vessel about to start on her voyage
with steam up, propellers revolving,
but not able to gain a foot of head
way because she is still tied to
post on the pier by a heavy hawser
Let us examine the construction Of
this heavy rope to learn the secret
of its great strength and ability to
hold back this monster of the deep.
We may be amused and yet mystified
to see it constructed of nothing but
individual weak fibres-no iron or
steel rod in the center to give it this
marvellous strength. and surely from
this We must learn that In unity
there is strength. Reverting to the
we ask ourselves wherein under God
does the strength of this great ma
ton rest, if not in the Christian, the
God-blessed homes of our country?
And can we hope to continue to pros
per-ca we ask that God to bless
our nation as unit when the com
ponent parts. the tibres that make the
rope-are rotten. When we know of
such absolute barbarity in our midst
as man trading off or selling his
wife to another, as has been reported
more than once in the daily papers
among the poorer and ignorant class
es-and when we read of divorces
and exchange of wives Or husbands
through the medium of the divorce
courts in the very upper crust of So
ciety-these people being acknowl-
edged and received in and among
the four hundred of Newport and
eastern so-called society-does it not
suggest there is something rotten in
Denmark when such a state of af-
fairs is tolerated, if not approved?
Coming down to hard sense and
cold facts what different effect, or
rather what difference in moral effect
on the masses, do such conditions
have from the conditions which pre-
vailed in the court of France on the
people who brought about the French
Revolution Will nor the strong and
innate patriotism of this great Amer
lea people cause them to look into the
future to stop and call halt to this
lterrible condition Of affairs, Fig
ures are not necessary to convince us
Catholics-we see and deplore the ex-
listing conditions-but TO those who
differ from Us in our view of mar
riage ties We ask them where will all
this lead to, when We tell them that
the official figures for a period COW
ering twenty years show that while
the divoces increased 157 per cent.