"Yes, foreign to native American ideas, and I might add foreign to the
claims of the first followers of Christianity, for the early Christian
Church did not assert the right to perform the marriage ceremony, or to
regulate marriage. Its protectorate dates from a later period. But
what I had in mind was that it is antagonistic to the spirit both of
our forefathers and their descendants. In the early days of New
England the service of marriage was performed not by the minister, but
by the magistrate, and marriages by clergymen were forbidden. It was
the authority of the State, the commonwealth, the considered judgment
of the community which was recognized."