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

Marriage. 221
CHAPTER VIII.
MARRIAGE.
WHETHER it hath grown out of some tradi.
tion of the divine appointment of marriage" in the
persons of our first parents, or merely from a design
to impress the obligation of the marriage contract
with a solemnity suited to its imponance, the marriage
rite, iJ! almost all countries of the world, has
been made a religious ceremony;- although marriage
in its own nature, and abstracted from the rules
and declarations \\rhich the Jewish and Christian
scriptures deliver concerning it, be properly ~ civil
contract, and notl1ing more.
With respect to one main article in matrimonial
alliances, a total alteration has taken r1ace in the
fashion of the world; the wife now brings money
to her husband, whereas anciently the husband paid
money to the family of the wife; as was the case
among the JewishpatriaTchs, the Greeks, and the old
inhabitants of Germany-t This alteration has proved
of no small advantage to the female sex; fOT their
importance in point of fortune procures to them, in
modem times, that assiduity and respect, which -are
always wanted to compensate for the inferiority of
their strength; but which their personal attractions
would not always secure.
Our business is with marriage as it is established
in this country. And in treating thereof, it will b~
necessary to state the terms of the marriage vow, in
erder to disc(.ver,
1. 'V!1at dlltics this vo"r creates.
• It "'2$ net bO"'evcr in Clu·i~t:an countri, $ rt.oqujrf'~l that mzrriages shou!d
he celrhratrd in r hurc-hrs till the thirteenth ceDtury of the Christian er'l.
Marriages 1n Iingl.;nd during the USlIrpaliorl ""ere £olemni7. p d before jUStt,es
{If the peace; but for v.hat purpose tili~ ~~1.",-alty "'as introduced, except to
degrade tht: cl(\rgy, doe!' not apiltlar.
t 'fhc allcient .1s:)'rialls ;,old their !ltt/utits by an ~nnL!al auction. Th?
pri~5 ,,"ere applied hy \vay of porti"n~ to the Inore hnruely. Dy this con ~
t r!VltlC{' ,dll,f hoth ~"!"t:; ,,·cr£' di~p()5t'r.J of :n marriage.