Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-21
question which is yet agitating every

question which is yet agitating every
civilized community:
Is it lawful for man to put away his wife?
This is simple, comprehensive and di-
rectly to the point. Jesus evades moth
ing He knows the nigh estimation in
which they held the law, and He begins
by asking them what was the command of
Moses. They reply that he suf-
fered Cor permitted) man to put away
his wife. The form of their answer
shows that they recognized an element of
weakness in this law. It was a permits
sion, not q mandate-a something
granted in response to a request. 1t was
based on some other reason than the
eternal truth Jesus at once declares
the reason why the permits
sion was granted. "For the hard
ness Of your heart he wrote you this
precept; - or, in the words of another
translator, ''BeCause of your stubborn
disposition he wrote you this command. -
In the original Greek the emphasis rests
on the words stubborn disposition, - or
"hardness Of heart, - showing that they
are the important words of the sentence.
Thus it appears from this that
Jesus would say that divorce
was permitted by Moses. not be-
cause of anything right or neces-
sary in the circumstances or the thing
itself, but because of the obduracy or
hardness of heart (evil manifestations
OF the Hebrews. 1t had its root in evil.
The Pharisees seem to acquiesce in this
statement. At least the yoffer no Objec-
ton Jesus at once enters upon a discus
sion of the case upon it's merits, as based
upon the truths of creation. He begins
with the account of how man was made,
and says Mark Y: G-9):
l. From the beginning of the creation God
made them male and female. See Genesis l.,
2 For this cause shall man leave his father
and his mother and cleave to his wife. See
Genesis IL, "a
J. and they twain shall be one flesh. [see
Genesis IL, a.
/. So they are no more. twain, but one flesh:
s. What therefore God hath joined together
let no man put asunGer.
In His quotation from the account of
the creation, Jesus lays a strong founda-
ton Man was made that way by God
Himself in the beginning. Rising step
by step, not link in the logic left out,
Jesus declares that the two, united. bsfs
the bonds of sex created by Coo, as
stated in the record of their
formation, thus become ones flesh
Then to this He addse His
own intensif1catiOn of the do cttine, but
reversing the grammatical construction
as if to avoid misunderstanding; they are
no longer two, but one flesh. The eli
max is irresistible and logically unayoid-
able. God planed for this union OF the
sexes from the beginning, he sayssand
that when united by the bond of sex they
became one flesh, and are no longer tw6-
therefore, ''what God has united let no
man sever.
This is His doctrine of marriage. 1t is
q union until death, which man cannot
sever.
But when He had gone INTO the house
with His disciples they asked Him fur
Their about these things. He had de-
scribed marriage, and now to.them He
makes an equally specific and5compreEt
hensive description Of adultery.
l. whosoever shall put away his wife, and
marry another, coulmitteth adultery against hex.
2. Ind if q woman shall put away her nus
band, and be married to another, she commits
eth adultery. asN
This is clear, definite and precise. 1t
requires no explanation, unless an at
tempt is made to explain something. 1t
compTehends every possible case, and
makes no exceptions. 1t places the
man and the woman on the basis of
equality. It is the only logical concur