Evening star., 1927-03-22
SPEAKING OF DIVORCE
An authorized Intervep With REV DIR. RANDOLPH RAY
Of Famous Little Church Around the Corner
ZOE BECKLEY.

Though not a fundamentaIist. 1 do
hold marriage a sacred institution and
monogamy the ideal state for thinking
human beings. It's holiness is assured
| by the words of our Lord, who plainly
set forth the terms on which it must
| be accepted.
II can conceive, however, OF certain
cases where divorce and remarriage
would be right, although I could not,
| by the rules Of my church, unite in
wedlock divorced persons.
MY most difficult task is fitting
divine law to everyday life. 1t can Re
done only lJy remembering that we are
all partly divine and can draw without
limit upon the God force which is
everywhere, in everybody and every.
thing. Divine laws become practical
human helps when propounded with
out dogma but humanity, In our Lord s
spirit"
The speaker is the Rev. DIR. Randolph
Ray of the famous Little Church
Around the Corner" which appears in
the dignified telephone book as the
Church of the TRANSPORTATION.
The Little Church is doubtless the
busiest in New York. You never enter
from noisy Twenty-ninth street
through the quaintness and peace of
it's garden without seeing that the
crises Of human life are going on and
always on-christenings, marriages,
funerals.
And in between, practically without
pause from morning TO night, confer
ences. friendly talks, advisings by the
rector with any one who wants his
ear.
In the pastors safe are many let.
ters from people still very much alive,
asking that they be looked after in
death" by the we'll loved little church.
Couples troop in constantly to be
married, but some Of them troop out
again, for the little church has it's
rules-Oh, my. yes!-and none who
have been separated by the law and
none who have overlooked being bap.
tized may be joined under its roof.
hospitable though it be. DIR. Ray ties
more marriage knots than any other
clergyman in New York.
There is a tradition that Little
Church marriages are lucky, and with
reason. In 1925 there were 1,946 mar
riage ceremonies performed there,
over a thousand more than in the
year preceding, while in 1924 there
were LOO.
In the church's 70 years Of exist
ence we'll over 100000 couples nave
been placed under the holy bond OF
matriInony-if you regard it as a
holy bond, as DIR. Randolph certainly
does. He points out with certain JOY
Gus pride that only about 10 divorces
result per thousand in all the Little
Church marriages.
I'VE don't take runaway mar
riages." says DR.. Ray. land possibly
that's one reason for our good luck.
.'There is much talk these days
about divorce, it's causes. its cure, us
inevitability. its prevention, etc. etc
But the very fact that divorces are
40 numerous Is one proof TO me that
the human race Is progressing,
II mean by that that our Ideals are
so much higher than they USED 10 pe
that It becomes Increasingly nara 70
live up to them. 1t used TO De tnat
when a man and woman married, the
man earned the money ana the woih'
an did as he told her, spent what ne
gave her. kept the home, reared the
children. belonged TO her husband anc
her family without regard TO her own
ambitions, hopes or ideals.
sRut lust as we have got rid or
slavery and shall get rid OF war, we
have got rid of the slave wife ana
the warlike marriage. NOBODY "ould
wish slavery back. Few now adVo-
cate war as settlement of national
disputes. And both men and women
are escaping from the marriage IN
which freedom, growth and service
cannot play a part :,
THAT is why we see so many di-
vorces. ..ats<
Now we cannot stop tfen1 or pre-
vent them by working from the wrong
end-i. e., after marriage. We can
prevent divorce only by teaching our
children from babyhood the facts of
life-self- reliance, independence. the
sanctity of marriage, the spiritual fac
tors as well as the physical factors
that enter into it. the ethics of 1t, the
duties Of it as we'll as the freedom
that must be given to both parties II
their marriage is to last and to be
right"
A small, piping voice, very feminine,
very infantile and very gay and joy
Gus, trickled into the doctors study