DOCTRINE AND LAW OF MARRIAGE, ADULTERY, AND DIVORCE; EXHIBITING A THEOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL VIEW OF THE DIVINE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE; THE RELIGIOUS RATIFICATION OF MARRIAGE; THE IMPEDIMENTS WHICH PRECLUDE AND VITIATE THE CONTRACT THE RECIPROCAL DUTIES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES; THE SINFUL AND CRIMINAL CHARACTER OF ADULTERY; AND THE DIFFICULTIES WHICH EMBARRASS THE PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING AN ESSAY ON THE HELLENISTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL MEANING Συζυγίης αλυτοιο συνωρίδα διζυγα. Nonnus. Sed prudentissima proculdubio est libertatis divortiorum coercitio, sive libidinis BY HECTOR DAVIES MORGAN, M. A. OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD; MINISTER OF CASTLE HEDINGHAM, ESSEX; PREBENDARY OF FRECON; AND STOR CHAPLAIN TO THE RIGHT HON, LORD KENYON. LIBR VOL. II. EW-YOR OXFORD, PRINTED BY W. BAXTER, FOR J. PARKER: AND C. AND J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND SYNOPSIS OF VOLUME II. CHAPTER VI. THE DIFFICULTIES WHICH EMBARRASS THE PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE OF DIVORCE. SECTION I. The right of Divorce assumed arbitrarily and without authority. Fluctuations of human legislation on the subject of divorce. Perpetuity of marriage asserted in the Scriptures, and supported on reasons worthy of the divine benevolence. Divorce not the necessary effect, nor the penal consequence, of adultery. Divorce not conceded but assumed under circumstances of impenetrable obscurity; regulated by Deut. xxiv. 1—4. Restrictions added by the Jews in the interpretation of that law concerning the occasions and forms of divorce. Divorces among the Greeks and Romans. Abuses and unhappy effects of the Roman law. Page 1. SECTION II. Restrictions involved in the received interpretation of the Doctrine of Divorce for Adultery. The Jewish law of divorce not approved by our Lord. Cases of illegitimate divorce proposed by our Lord. The clause of exception not to be understood where it is not expressed. Appropriated to one single case; and even in its extension to other cases producing only a permissive law of divorce. The clause restrictive in its terms. Interpreted in the sense of adultery, it implies clear the offence, and integrity in the accusing party. divorce limited. Objection from 1 Cor. vii. proof of Cause of Page 53. SECTION III. Objections to the received interpretation of the clause of exception in the law of Divorce, and attempt to recover the original and primitive signification. Objection, 1. from the ambiguity of the word Togνela: 2. from the omission of the clause of exception by Saint Mark and Saint Luke: 3. from the violence of the in- ference under the received exposition: 4. from the con- text: 5. from Saint Paul's doctrine, 1 Cor. vii. 2 Cor. vi. 16. Opinions of Tertullian and Cyprian; of Miegius and History of the Christian Doctrine of Divorce. Variations of the doctrine in the several ages before Constantine: between Constantine and Justinian: from the time of Justinian to the decay of the Eastern Empire Indissolubility of marriage the constant doctrine of the of cruelty and adultery. Practice of courts in suits of divorce a mensa on the ground of adultery. Objections from the Reformatio Legum, and the case of the Marquis of Northampton not conclusive of the dissolubility of mar- riage, and opposed by Tables of Archbishop Parker, and Canons of 1603. Precedent of the Bill for dissolving the marriage of Lord Rous slowly adopted, and eventually abused. Attempts to restrain the abuse. Debates on Lord Auckland's Bill. Anomalies of the existing law and |
