PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

218 Of Divorct.
~ppears to have been controverted among~t the iil.
terpreters of those times.' Christ, the prec(:Ft:s of
whose religion were calculated for more general u~e
and observation, revoltes this permission, as giveJ}
to the Jews " for the hardness of their hearts," and
proIDulges a law which was thenceforward to confine
divorces to the single cause of adultery in the
\vife. And I see no sufficient reason to depart from
the plaj~ a·~d strict meaning. of Christ's words. Tile
rule was new.
It both surprised and offended his
nothing to relax or ex­
disciples; yet Ghrist add~
plain it. !
Inferior causes may justify the separation of husband
and wife, althougll they \viII not authorize such
~ dissol~tron of the marriage contract, as would
leave either party at liberty to marry again; for it
is that li~rty in which the danger and mischief of
divor