The Washington times., 1922-08-06
Continued from First PaseJ

| ShUiSH. Lct us tdhc tne IOrfner IlTbt
II the average man were asked the
question what is marriage he would
probably answer, Marriage Is Tho
union Of a man and a woman by law
The definition looks true and harm
less. but humbly suggest that IT IL
both false and dangerous.
1t implies that the law makes
marriages and that there can be nc
marriages where there is no law
But IL so, what are we to say of the
unions in the ancestry Of mankind
Jacob was not married to Rachel
Isaac was not married to Rebekah
although she "lived faithfully with
him'O. Abraham was not married to
Sara, and Adam assuming he was
the prototype of mani was not
married to Eve, and therefore, all
the children of men from the be-
ginning Of the world have been
illegitimate.
II the sanction Of law is necessary
to Marriage some Of the purest
unions in the history of humanity
have been mere concubinage and
some of the foulest transactions in
the legalized vice have been good
marriages.
The man who has married woman
for the sake of her money and the
woman who has married a man for
the sake of his rank have been truly
married II they have been married
under the law, while the men and
women who, from any cause, have
nited their lives without the sanction
of the law have been living In a
state of adultery.
Thus George Eliot was an Immoral
woman, and Landru. on his marital
side, was a moral man.
Marriage q Sacrament.
Take tho ecclesiastic view. Not
since the days of the early fathers
have the theologians of the Church
of Rome defined marriage in varying
terms, but the broad definition of the
Roman church is the lofty one that
marriage il a sacrament.
If the average priest were asked
he would probably answer marriage
is the union Of one man and one
woman by God and the Church"
Once more I humbly but emphati'
cally dissent. II 1t Is the Church
that makes marriages, what OF the
marriages made outside OF II? Are
they all Invalid in the eyes Of God?
Is It still believed that as many az
are coupled together. otherwise than
by Gods word, are not Joined to-
gether by God, and neither Is their
matrimony lawful?
To say thai God makes or has any
part in the conspiracies Of avarice
and lust whereby innocent young
girls are often taken blindfold to the
marriage altar sounds like bias
phemy.
What, then. is mariage7
For my own answer ] would 60
back to the Roman jurists Pasans
though they were) and say, mar.
riage is a personal contract OF ma
tural law"
And all that the state has to DO
with II 10 to ratify and protect II,
and all that the Church has to do
with it is to solemnize and sanctify 1t.
Union on Sole Basis Of Love.
Marriage could exist between two
individuals OF different sexes al
though no third person were living
in the world.
It might be contracted in absolute
purity by such persons, though there
were no church on earth and they
were ignorant Of the existence Of a
God
In fact, marriage Is the union OF
one man with one woman on the sole
basis of love.
The man who says to a woman
in love and sincerity, you are my
wife" and the woman who. In like
manner, says to a man, you are my
husband" are thereby truly and pub
licly married in a marriage that can
/ not be broken unless or until one or
other of them fails in carrying out
the fundamental object of their
union.
This definition will. on reflection
be found to be far.reaching and
apparently revolutionary.
It goes back to the form of mar
riage by declaration which existed
in the world in the ancestry Of man
kind and prevailed in Scotland down
to the act which 10 the first author
OF the recent tangle.
It does not exclude the tneory that
God makes a marriage founded on
love, because God himself Is Love
Neither does It deny the enormous
contribution of the civil law to the
security OF married life.
The aim Of civil law 10 TO guard
the weaker sex. II requires that
when a man marries a woman he
shall provide for her. It protects
the rights OF her children.
To think of marriage without
the safeguards Of the law. with
social moralities such as exist al
present, is to conceive Of ar
anarchy, a chaos, a maelstrom oi
misery, a whirlpool of injustice.
No more tragic and pitifu
picture can be imagined Of what
marriage would be without tn,
security of law than Victor Hugo
has given in the heartbreakine
incidents Of Fantine and Cosett,
in Les Miserables"
Still less does the theory tina,
marriage is the purely persona
affair Of a man and a woman deny
the great contribution of the
church to the purity and stability
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