A DIVORCE. LITTLE while ago the North American Review propounded the following questions: 1. Do you believe in the principle of divorce under any circumstances? 2. Ought diyorced people to be allowed to marry, under any circumstances? 3. What is the effect of divorce on the integrity of the family? 4. Does the absolute prohibition of divorce, where it exists, contribute to the moral purity of society? These questions were answered in the November number of The Review, 1889, by Cardinal Gibbons, Bishop Henry C. Potter and myself. In the December number, the same questions were again answered by W. E. Gladstone, Justice Bradley and Senator Dolph. In the following month Mary A. Livermore, Amelia E. Barr, Rose Terry Cooke, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Jennie June gave their opinions upon the subject of divorce; and in the February number of this year, Margaret Lee and the Rev. Phillip S. Moxom contributed articles upon this subject. I propose to review these articles, and first let me say a few words in answer to Cardinal Gibbons. REPLY TO CARDINAL GIBBONS. The indissolubility of marriage was a reaction from polygamy. Man naturally rushes from one extreme to the other. The Cardinal informs us that “God instituted in Paradise the marriage state, and sanctified it;" (431) that "he established its law of unity and declared its indissolubility." The Cardinal, however, accounts for polygamy and divorce by saying that, "marriage suffered in the fall." If it be true that God instituted marriage in the Garden of Eden, and declared its unity and indissolubility, how do you account for the fact that this same God afterwards upheld polygamy? How is it that he forgot to say anything on the subject when he gave the ten commandments to Moses? How does it happen that in these commandments he puts women on an equality with other property— "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, or thy neighbor's ox, or anything that is thy neighbor's?" How did it happen that Jacob, who was in direct communication with God, married, not his deceased wife's sister, but both sisters, while both were living? Is there any way of accounting for the fact that God upheld concubinage? Neither is it true that "Christ reasserted in clear and unequivocal terms, the sanctity, unity, and indissolubility of marriage." Neither is it true that "Christ gave to this state an added holiness and a dignity higher far than it had 'from the beginning.'" If God declared the unity and indissolubility of marriage in the Garden of Eden, how was it possible for Christ to have "added a holiness and dignity to marriage higher far than it had from the beginning?" How did Christ make marriage a sacrament? There is nothing on that subject in the new Testament; besides, Christ did apparently allow divorce, for one cause at least. He is reported to have said: "Whosoever putteth away his wife, save for fornication, causeth her to commit adultery." The Cardinal answers the question "Can divorce from the bonds of marriage ever be allowed ?" with an emphatic theological "NO," and as a reason for this "no," says, " Thus saith the Lord." |