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

Of D jvorcc. 219
and her marrying again: "Let not the wife depart
from her htlSband; but, and if· she do depart, let her
remain unmarried. "
The law of this country, in conformity to our
Saviour's injunction, confines the dissolution of the
marriage contract to the single case of adultery in
the \\fife; and a divorce even in that case can only
be brought about by the operation of an act of parliament,
founded upon a previous sentence in . the
ecclesiastical court, and a verdict against the adulterer
at common law:· which proceedirlgs taken together
compose as complete an· investigation of the com.
plaint as a cause can receive. It h:ls lately- been proposed
to the legislature to annex a clause to these
acts, restraining the offending party from marrying
with the companion of her crinle~ who, by the course
of proceeding, is always known and couvicted ;. for
there is reason to feal", that adulterous connexions
are often formed \rirll the prospect of bringing them
to this conclu~ion; at least, when the c seducer-has
once captivated the affection of a married \V()lnan,
he may avail himself of this tenlpting argument to
subdue her scruples, and complete his victory; and
the legislature, as the business is managed at present,
assists by its interposition the crirninal design of the
offenders, and ~onfers a privilege \vhere it ought to
inflict a pUllishlnent. 1'he proposal deserved an experiment;
but something more penal will, I apprehend,
be found necessary to check the progress of
this a}armingdepravity. Whether a law might not
be frall1ed directing the fortune of the adulteresr to {lcscend
as in Cflse of her natural death j reserving, how~
ever, a certain proportion of the produce of it, by
way of annuity, for her subsistence (such annuir.
in no ca~e to exceed a fixed sum) and also so far sus.
pending the estate in the hands of the heir as to preserve
the inheritance to any children she might bear
to a second marriage, in case there was none to succeed
in the place of their mother by the first; "heth.·