The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-03-23
AdmOnishes Methodist Ministers
To Observe DenomiaationaI
Rule Concerning Marriage
NO LooPH0LE IS LEFT <
TO JUSTIFY VIOLATION
Clergymen Forbidden To Solemn
lie Nuptials Of Persons Sepa-
4 rated BY Court Decree

Immediately after returning 70 the
Coast recently from Honolulu, where
he attended the annual conference Of
the Methodist mission, Bishop Edwin
Holt Hughes placed a strict interpre.
tation on the laws Of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, forbidding its min.
listers to solemnize marriages Of di,
yorced persons. x. 81.
The bishop impressed upon the
elergymen Of his conference, which in.
cludes Hawaii, the force of the de.
nominational law providing that no
divorce shall be recognized by the
church as lawful except upon Scrip.
tural grounds, and that no minister Of
the church shall solemnize n marriage
Il there is q. divorced wife or husband
living, except in special instances.
The Bishops admonition 10 the min.
Listers was the result Of a lingering be.
lief of some Methodist pastors that the
paragraph of the church discipline
governing divorce, which comes under
the, head Of "advices,n was a matter
resting upon the discretion of the min.
'sters, and that its enforcement was
not obligatory. ? 70
Rule To Be Observed 81. 81
The minister's were reminded by the
head Of the, church in California that
the Methodist bishops, at a meeting
n 1913, had reviewed the. church law
on divorce and the opinion of the
bishops expressed in 1905. and that the
rule as IL now stands is a law and
not a mere matter of advice.
) "This ruling of the bishops,'' de-
rlared Bishop Hughes, twas confirmed
by the general conference of the
church in 1908 on recommended ton of
the committee, on Judiciary. This so
fixes the matter as to make the mar,
rage by any Methodist minister OF
persons not divorced on ScripturaL or
what -lwollld be called statutosy
grounds In civil law, direct viola.
ton Of the plain law Of the church. |"
No Loophole Left >..
Bishop Hughes left no loophole in
his exposition Of the law whereby lib!
critics may be taken by Methodist min.
,lsters in upiting In yedlock persons
who have been divorced, except, ae-
cording to the church discipline, in the
case Of "the innocent party to di
yorce |" for Seriptural cause, and to di.
vorced persons seeking to be reunited
in marriagef v, ~
1.-THE sin, does not consist in putting
away the wife. when conditions, are
unbearable," said Bishop Hughes; it
does consist in marrying another.
jesus does not insist that the quarrel,
some shall live amid their brawls; but
he does insist that they shall not go
into another experiment that dcgEades
a sacred covenant. g. :. 4,
Easy Divorces Social EVIL
1--WE do not long listen to the spe,
cious arguments for easy divorce, with
the privilege Of remarEiage, without
discovering that these Arguments affirm
either that personal purity Is impos
sible or that personal convenience and
pleasure are the primary demands Of
life.
at is impossible to conceive what
would have been the dismal statistics
If divorce il Jesus had made the mar
rage bond Of slender strength. Truly
the situation is bad enough as it is
Often the causes for divorce are triv.
lal; sometimes they are deliberately
arranged by the separating parties,
and occasionally the much married
comedian is hailed on tho stage with
joking tolerance. -,