the  Roman  Catholic  Church — applied  for  a  divorce
under  the  laws  of  Prussia.  The  laws  of  the  State
admit  of  divorce ;  but  on  this  point  the  rules  of  the
Roman  Catholic  Church  are  exceedingly  stringent.
The  woman  was  divorced,  and  then,  as  allowed  by
the  law,  she  again  married,  but  this  time  a  Pro-
testant ;  the  Romish  priest  took  no  notice  of  either
of  these  acts,  nor  sent  any  warning  to  the  woman,
because  she  had  obtained  the  divorce,  or  because
she  had  married  a  Protestant.  In  time  a  child  of  this
marriage  was  to  be  baptized,  but  she  carried  it  to
the  Protestant  minister ;  then  the  priest  woke  up  and
claimed  a  right  over  the  child,  but  this  right  was  not
conceded ;  so  he  applied  for  counsel  to  his  bishop,
who  told  him  to  go  into  the  pulpit  and  denounce
the  woman  as  living  in  adultery  and  crime,  and
forbid  any  one  to  have  any  conversation  with  her  or
to  recognise  her ;  to  put  her  in  purgatory  here  and
send  her  to  hell  hereafter.  The  husband  looked
over  the  new  laws,  and  brought  a  suit  against  the
priest  for  libel.  The  court  ruled  that  the  priest  was
only  following  the  instructions  of  his  superior.  The
husband  then  brought  the  suit  against  the  bishop.
The  court,  to  the  consternation  of  the  bishop,  held


142  Exeter  Hall  Meeting.
Dr.  Thomp-  him  guilty,  and  sentenced  him  to  a  fine.  He  ap-
pealed and  carried  the  case  to  a  higher  court,  and
the  other  courts  sustained  the  decision  of  the  first.
