The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-02-09
our GREATEST EVIL
DIVORCE MILL A SOCIAL
sCoURGE" OF THE TIMES.
More Bnghting Upon Family Life Of
the Nation Than Mormonisnl, Says
Cardinal Gibbons.

. a D..
:"There is a social scourge more
blighting and more destructive Of
family life than Mormonism. It is
the fearfully increasing number OF
divorce mills throughout the United
States. These mills, like the mills Of
the gods are slowly, but surely grind
ing to powder the domestic altars OF
the nation" This is what Cardinal
Gibbons said Sunday in sermon at
Baltimore. The Cardinal went on
to say:
Husband and wife are separated
on the most himsy pretext. And as
IL the different States of the Union
were not sufficiently accommodating
in this respect, one State has the un-
enviable distinction of granting d
bill of divorce for the mere asking
of it, on the sole condition Of brief
scjourn within her borders.
~ can conceive no scene more
pathetic nor one that appeals more
touchingly to our sympathies than
the contemplation of a child emerg-
ing into the years Of discretion see
ing her father and mother estrangec
from each other. Her little heart
is learning to love. She longs to en-
brace both parents, but she finds that
she cannot give her affection to the
one without exciting the resentment
or displeasure of the other.
"a lady prominent in social life
once said to me in Newport II do
not recognize any law, human or al
vine that can deprive a husband or
wife of the right to separate and to
enter fresh espousals when they do
not live in harmony together.
"'You speak, 7 replied, of your
rights; your privileges. But you
have net word to say for your du-
ties and obligations.
"Ah! my brethren, if men and wo-
men had due consideration for their
duties and responsibilities their
rights would take care Of themselves.
There can be no rights where there
are NO corresponding obligations.
There are no rights against the law
of God.
eff Christianity is the highest type
of civilization-and who can deny
it?-then is it not true that we are
retrograding instead of advancing ON
certain lines? We glory in our sys-
tenn of universal education, in our
enormous wealth and in our terri
torial expansion. But these advan-
tages are not evidences of Christian
progress.
"Two thousand years ago pagan
Rome had all these temporal advan-
tages. The wealth Of the nations
poured into her lap. Her empire ex-
tended over three continents. She
far excelled us in the. arts, in ora
tory, poetry, philosophy and litera-
ture, and in all the refinements of
cultivated society. Her paintings and
sculpture, her literary productions,
are still our models. And yet, while
she was in the zenith of her material
and intellectual .splendor she was in
a state of moral and political decay,
in fact, she was lapsing into ba:.3a-
rism.
"The most :. striking feature Of
Christ's empire is its perpetual en-
durance. Two thousand years ago
He was laid in the tomb, and yet He
exerts today the paramount influence
on the social. and political as we'll as
on the moral and religious world;
such as was never welded by any
earthly sovereign. Other rulers pass
in review before us and are gone. But
Christ remains forever"