Milford chronicle., 1904-01-15
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALAfAGR, D.D.,
-, PaStor Of Jefferson Pask PFssby-
teriAn chureh. chisA6o

sin, easy divorce. and the incongruou
conflict Of state laws on the subjec
are unsparingly characterized. TIL,
preacher indicates the only way out OF
this immoral tangle which is wreckinl
the home and desecrating the marriage
altar. The text is Mark X, 8, What
therefore God hath Joined together lei
not man put asunder."
As the civil war was the mortal clash
between two conflicting ideas. so to-
day we find conflicting ideas in mortal
combat over the marriage altar. The
one is the Christ idea, which declares
that marriage is not a confederation
that can be broken at will, but an in
dissoluble union. This idea asserts that
after marriage the twain in every sense
becomes one. The second idea declares
that easy divorce is not a crime, but
often, for the social good, a necessity.
1t says that when a man and a woman
are unequally yoked together it is bet
ter that they be separated by law, even
If the cause for separation be not so
serious as that recognized in the Bible,
and, more, that they may, If they wish,
contract new marriages.
But, though James Bryce in his
American Commonwealth" afiirms that
the family as a unit is 1.-THE one funda-
mental and permanent problem of hui
man life and society,"" yet everywhere,
by reading the signs of the times, we
can see that by easy divorce the sane
tity Of the home is imperiled. Every
where the danger signals are being lift |
ed, to prove that marriage is becoming |
more and more mere temporary con- !
venience. Carroll D. Wright in his la
Dor statistics declares that in the year
1889 there were 36,072 divorces in the
state Of Illinois alone and that there
was one divorce to every fifteen mar
riages. He went on to show that from /
1867 to 1886 there were 32S, ZIG divorces
in the United States and that each year
the proportion Of divorces to the num-
Der Of inhabitants in the United States
was on the increase, just as the indi-
yidual wealth Of the Americans per
capita increases year by year. Surely
such an evil record as that ought to
bring a blush Of shame to the cheeks |
If American manhood and wOmanhOod
md might be regarded as a national ,
iisgrace even by the inhabitants of
he French capital. 1t would have been
blot on the historical pages Of licen-
ious Rome. So awful is the spread of
his divorce evil and SO blunted are be- =
oming the once keen edges OF public 4
eminent upon this question that Nor
an Dix. who in no sense can be called
sensatiOnallSt uttered last Thanks
living day this scathing invective ,
gainst wholesale licensed libertlnism
ow being practiced through the wide "
pen doors Of the legal courts Of our Il
md: THE divorce evil is terrible. 1t a
an evil we must try to uproot. Once d.
pom time if we ever mentioned the 81
lct that a person had been divorced "
e spoke Of it under our breath. as a ~
Inject not proper for conversation. We &C
en regarded divorce as something Ia
osely related to disgrace, and that not N
ne ago either" Now rapid degen- "a
acy of social sentiment upon this evil
IS taken place. We look upon easy
vorce as respectable. We even honor
me Of those who have thus cri1ninally tn
oxen their nuptial vows. when. III ia
,ad, we should hold them in everlast- Or
; disrepute. as
A Call For United Action. sp
against the further spread and for trl
determination Of this divorce evil ref
Catholic church is already up in ito
ms. Against it the Presbyterian l
lrch, with its general assembly COM mi
tee working in unison with the sis an,
churches, is struggling night and res
2. Against it only few weeks ago low
the Rhode Island ministers banded in
mselves together to give religious Pa
lbat. Thus as the public leaders of less
ny denominations are fighting this mil
and would be destroyer he
he home. it Is not inappropriate for for
TO speak a few words in reference this
those legal and domestic causes the
ch might hereafter make easy di- less
,e" an impossibility the
rst, nothing can be accomplished in the
aterial way unless there is national sucl
Station or at least concerted action mar
ng the dlherent state legislatures tion
lhls subject. There must be all peri
the land harmonious and united IL
action against the divorce evil. refe
hould be made impossible for a bilit
TO get a divorce in one state of {
ii he could not obtain on the same said
nd in any one Of the 5000 divorce conn
Is Of the United States. All those actel
S ought to be in agreement as to riag,
causes justify and what do not York
" the dissolution Of marriage. part
recognize the necessity Of the max,
nal courts of the United States refer
ing in harmony. Why should we Of III
the necessity Of concert does
ction by divorce courts? Some gives
ago in Chicago a man killed his for t
and burned her body in the vat short
sausage factory. Supposing after broth
rime he could have stepped across said:
ate line and in Indiana defied the shirk
authorities of TIif,oio Nxvt4oe | uti,o..