Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-12-20
sAcREDNEss OF MARRIAGE.
Alarming Symptoms of American Life
That Show Danger to the Family.

Alarming Symptoms of American Life
That Show Danger to the Family.
One of the most alarming symptoms of
American life today is the increasing
frequency of divorce. 1t is not necessary
to produce statistics. We all know, from
our daily reading of the newspapers, that
the divorces granted will at the present
rate of increase soon equal the number
of marriages solemnized. This can mean
only one thing: that the institution Of
the family is in danger of being dis
placed by the institution of free love.
This, of course, would carry with it the
state ownership of children.
The Christian Teaching on Marriage.
What has Christianity to say about
TINS eVlI! Ii it is a practical rehglon,
and has any real message for eur daily
living, it must have something to say
about marriage, and especially the pur-
pose for which it was instituted.
Like so many other customs that We're
already in existence when Christianity
began, the custom of marriage was tax
en- up by Christianity, and purified and
sanctifed by the Christian principle OF
love. This transforming of the world S
customs and institutions was the un1ver-
sal method of Christianity. In accord
ance with this method, Pope Gregory the
Great told st. Augustine not to destroy
the pagan temples of the Anglo Saxon
nor to abolish pagan festivals, but to
purify and consecrate the temples TOR
Christian worship and transform the
festivals into Christian festivals.
Thus Christianity transformer the IN
stituton of marriage by teaching that
the purpose of marriage is the building
up of a Christian society through the
home. This purpose is fulfilled not
merely by the begetting and rearing of
children. but also by making the home
Christian society, based on love and self
sacrifice The home would thus be
center of Christian influence, and train
ing school for the larger life in church
and state.
Marriage then is a scored calling, .
state of life into which all whom God
calls should enter. They should enter
it with full sense of consecrating their
lives to the fuIfillment of Gods plan, and
with a resolute determination to practice
such restraint and self sacrifice as God
requires Husband and wife have their
part to do in the work of transforming
this world into Gods kingdom, just as
the priest and the missionary and the
consecrated virgin have their part.
Why So Many Marriages Fail.
The reason why marriage is so often a
failure today is that the majority of peO-
pie have come to ignore this noble teach
ing of Christianity as to the purpose OF
marriage The average young man and
young woman today rush into the holy
estate of matrimOny for almost every
conceivable motive but the true one.
Let us consider some of the more com
mon motives. which so often make ship
wreck of young lives.
The Qualification of Passion.
An alarming number Of men and
women allow themselves to be led into
marriage simply by motive of lust. They
come here or go to Michigan from Chi
cago by boat loads. But clipping couples
are not the only ones who marry from
such a motive. 1t often happens that
men and women are drawn together by
some mere physical infatuation fhe
polite name for it is love at first sight''),
and they are married after a fortnight's
acquaintance. Students at college are
more cautious in selecting room-mates
riages are broken up by the fimsiest pre-
| texts? The wife sees her husband I'M
snaven for the first time, or there is a
petty quarrel over the hanging of a pic
ture, or the husband sees mis- wife grow
pale and haggard through a painful i'll
ness, and 10, they discover that they love
each other no longer. At the very most
such marriages can never survive the
| first gray hairs of middle age.
The Motive of Comfort.
| Some men get married because they
| want housekeepers; other men because
| they want somebody to take care OF them
when they grow old. The home that is
| based upon such a motive cannot very
well be anything but frigid and barren
and loveless.
| Unfortunately it is not only men who
marry from such motives. Women do
also. Many woman gets married be-
cause she thinks it would be pleasant to
| have a man always to wait on her, at her
beck and call. Such women shrink from
the duties of motherhood, and run their
house in the most slovenly fashion. They
spend their days shopping, or pretend
| ing to shop, or going to the vaudeville.
Many marriages are failures because so
! few American women look upon mar
riage as the serious work of their lives.
Wealth or Social Position.
Many are the bright and charming
young women who have ruined their
| lives by selling themselves to men whom
! they did not love, for wealth or for some
worthless bauble of a foreign title.
Many are the men who have sold them
| selves to rich women, degrading their
manhood to follow at their wives heels,
| like puppies, to be known henceforth
only as their wives husbands. Marriage
for such a motive is sure to end dis
| astrOusly. A man who married a Wom-
an reputed to be worth a million, told a
! friend of his a little later that he had
found to his sorrow that that was all
she was worth Those who marry for
money or social position have their re-
ward; and that is about all they do
have. Their homes are bleak and empty
of love, and therefore empty of God.
The Ideal Marriage.
The only motive which can make a
marriage successful is love. And love
does not mean the selfish, sensual desire
which is often called by the name Of
love. 1t is an unselfsh, heavenly af-
lection which comes from God dwell
ing in the soul. 1t desires only the
highest welfare and happiness of the
loved one. 1t is a pure, self-sacriicing
love, like the love of Christ for His
church. Christ loved the church and
gave Himself up for it that He might
sanctify it. So husband should give
himself up to his wife, and the wife to
her husband, that they may help each
other, and the children whom God may
give them, to become holy, and useful
| members Of the Christian society