RELIGIOUS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 879, 4 January 1889, Page 6

RELIGIOUS.

THE MENDING OF MARRIAGE. In an ideal state, when all the people were honourable, the marriago contract might perhaps be safely abandoned, and * unions of affection * substituted for it. But, as these things are, the outcome of the proposed change would probably be one from which every person of pure mind would shrink in abhorrence. If this battle has really got to be fought, it is well that all who have regard 'for the sanotity of home- life should

take up their position without loss of time, and follow Miss Chapman in declaring that the State cannot afford, by giving too great facilities for divorce, to relieve the few who make unhappy marriages, at the expense of the majority who make happy ones. It may well, however, Institute such reforms of the marriage-tie as she points out. In the matters of the guardianship of children, and of the conditions under which divorce is now granted, reason and common sense dictate that the woman should be given the same right as the man. Marriages for money should be regarded as ‘relics of savagery.’ Children of both sexes should be brought up together, and fuller opportunities given for young people to know one another before botrothal. And in the religious service the woman’s equality with, rather than her submission to, the man should be distinctly recognised.—Christian World. HARVEST FESTIVALS AND BAD HARVESTS. There has been some interesting correspondence in the Yorkshire Post'as to the propriety or otherwise of having harvest festivals' tjyis year gyring to the very ba<f fiaryeut. If pjore than half the crops have been ruined Jby phe r§|n, if wha£ fe reaped is poor, and in bad condition, ajid if thp’ price of bread ie consequently rising, there would be no little unreality in excessively decorated churches and hymns of a jubilant character. For some time we have noted that the excessive popularity of these festivals have led the olergy to allow, if not encourage, an undne importance being attached to them ; and it would be equally grotesque and scandalous to have jubilant services in parishes where the farmers were on the verge of starvation. If the bad harvest leads people to observe another year the Rogation Days now so grievously neglected, though the Prayer Book recognises and orders their observance, good may come out of evil. we would recofUmend is that, whil© fihanking,God for what He gives, we should make the services of a less festal character fslflction ali,ke of hymns, psalms, and ippsojas. There js iji .* Hymns Ancient and Modern ’ a hymn specially adapted for a poor harvest.—-Church Review, THE MARRIAGE SERVICE. Several correspondents, writing to the Daily Telegraph, have expressed disapproval of this service of the Church, one of them, * a clergyman whose years amount to nearly half a century,’ says :—‘l fully sympathise with the young bride as to her feelings of ■hame when the marriage service of our Chnroh is read in fall. I have never when validating read certain objectionable passages ‘ibi tiEi# marriage service*, and never intend to do so, though I have been present when they have been read,* and I. must confess, as old married man neither • ‘ squeamish nor K *•

mock modest,” that I have felt most uncomfortable myself, which feeling has also been shared by the majority of persons present. As the objectionable portion can be omitted without impugning the legality of the marriage, why do not parents or the bridegroom ask the officiating minister to omit those passages.’ MAKING MONEY OUT OF A ‘MIRACLE.’ During the laßt severe thunderstorm In St. Petersburg one of the eikons w’as struck by lightning, and the coins, which were on a plate before it, were impelled by the force of the electric fluid so aB to form a circular shape round the holy picture. The incident has been regarded by the lower classes as a miracle, and thousands of peasants and merchants from differents parts of Russia are daily visiting the image and making their offerings.