I Forbid the Banns! — page 117: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ON THE VOICE THAT BREATHED O'ER EDEN. 107 same principle. My dearest iuvve, cannot you see with me that, when a man and a woman are bound together by the ties of a love such as ours, every form and every cere- mony making up what people of the world call a marriage, is only a mockery—an insult to love? ‘Whom God hath joined ’—it is the arrogance of the priest to assume the office of God. Dearest, I am on the side of God as opposed to the priest. God has joined us by that strong love which is sacred, indissoluble, mystic. It is the priest who, for his own profit, has declared that until he has pronounced those sacred words there can be no marriage. Just think of the mockery of it; he will pronounce those sacred words between any two people—any man and woman who come before him bearing a duly sealed document, which has been paid for like an ordinary chattel. God joins people by the mystic, spiritual bond of love. Does the priest make any inquiry with a view to find out if this bond exists between any couple who come before him for the purpose of hearing him declare that ‘Whom God hath joined let not man put asunder’ ?”’ ‘¢T suppose not—that is their lookout,” said Charlton. “ Then it is a mockery—that ceremony which they call marriage,’’ said the girl. “Tt has done the world pretty well for some thousands of years, Bertha.” ‘No, it has done the world very badly, Julian. Can any- one doubt that much of the misery which exists in every civilized community—which actually seems to be the prod- uct and attendant of civilization—is caused by marriage —legalized compulsory union? That sort of union is en- slavement. It is the union that existed between Bonni- vard and his pillar. ‘Whom God hath joined let not man put asunder,’ the policeman says ashe slips the handcuffs over the wrist of a man and the wrist of a woman who stands by his side. Does your idea of the union of souls COMMICLYOOlKS EC)