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

Marriage.
institution, or the plain terms in which the contract
is conceived) that whoever is conscious, at !he tit;le
of his marriage, of such a dislike to '(-he woman he
is about to marry, or of such a subsisting attachment
to some other woman, that he cannot reasonably, nor
_does in fact, expect ever io entertain an affe~tion'
for his future wife, is guilty, when he pronOunces
the marriage vow, of a direct and deliberate prevarication;
and that too, aggravated by the presence
of those ideas of religion, and of the Supreme Being,
which the place, the ritual, and the solemnity of the
occasion, cannot fail of bringing to his .thoughts.
The same likewise of the WOIDaa'l.
This charge must
be imputed to all, who, from mercenary motives,
marry the objects of their aversion and disgust; and
likewi:le to those who desert~ from any motive what.
ever, ,the objects of their affection, and, without be.
ing able to subdue that ahection, marry another.
The crime of falsehoOd is also incUrred by the man,
who intends, at the time of ollis marriage, to commence,
renew, or £ontipue a personal commerce
with any other woman.
And the parity of reason,
if a wife be capable of so much guilt, extends to her.
The marriage vow is 'Violated,
1. By adultery. .
2. By ~y behaviour, which, knowingly $ . renders
the life of the other miserable ;as desertion, neglect,
prodigality, drunkenness, peevishness, p,enuriousness,
jealousy, or any levity of conduct, which adminuters
occasion of jealousy.
•
A late regulation in the law of marriages, in this
country, has made the consent of the father, if he be
living, of the mother, if she survive the father, and
remain unmarried, or of guardians, if both parents
be dead, necessary to the marriage of a person under
twenty ·one years of age. By the Roman law, the
~nsent cJ ll't'j ct plltris was required so long as they
lived. In France', .-he consent of parents is necessary