“AS IT WAS IN THE DAYS OF SODOM.”
THE following, clipped from the Independent of the 11th ult., is a suggestive commentary on the age, and a revelation of some of the principles of “Christian Science:”— “One or two disgusting matrimonial affairs have been made public the last week, which indicates some very loose and silly notions as to what marriage is. Two “Christian Scientists”—neither Christian nor scientific, though they took classes in Christian Science at two dollars an hour—concluded that their marriage was not made in Heaven, and agreed to separate. That was all the divorce they had or sought, and then Mrs. Plunkett took another husband; that is, she announced herself married to another man, the marriage being solemnized only by their own declaration and recognized by no law of God or man. It is not marriage, but adultery. The other case is that of a physician of distinction who has got tired of his wife and is seeking a divorce from her, which is not so easy to get. Meanwhile, still married to his wife, uncertain of release, he seeks the company of the daughter of a prominent merchant, and puts himself in the relation to her of an affianced husband. Of course the position becomes awkward to her, and when her friends make a fuss about it, he takes her “under his own protection,” to his own home, to her shame and his. This he calls “protection”—the protection the vulture gives the lamb. There are strange notions of the family and of marriage abroad when such things can happen; and in such cases the tutorial power of the law might well give its needed enlightenment. Some people seem to think that mutual weariness is a sufficient reason for breaking the marriage bond. They talk about the sacredness of reciprocal attraction, and the curse of uncongenial hearts. But marriage is vastly more sacred than these reciprocal attractions, which may be nothing more than selfish and temporary amativeness. If two people are attracted together, then, if unmarried, let them take it as a sign that they should marry; if married as a sign that they should keep apart. The modern doctrine of sacred affinities is nothing less than the crowning of unblushing vice, and the deification of the animal passions which ally us with brutes.”