The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-16
GLADSTONE ON DIVORCE.
His Reply to Five Questions Sent Him
by an American Magazine.

JUSTICE
Bradley and some other eminent men
the following questions two months ago:
l. Do you believe in the principle of
divorce under any circumstances!
.. Ought divorced people TO be allowed to
marry under any crcumstencess
8. What is the effect OF divorce on the
integrity Of the family!
4. Does the absolute prohibition of divorce
where it exists increase the moral purity of
society!
To those questions Mr.. Gladstone sends
the following answer:
undertake. though not without misyiv-
ing, to offer answers TO your four questions.
For ! incline to think that the future Of
America is of greater Importance to chris
tendon at large than that of any countrv.
that that future, in its highest features
vitality depends upon the incidents of mar
riage, and that no country has ever been so
directly challenged as America now is t.
choose definitely with reference to one. if
not more than one, of the very greatest of
those incidents.
The solidity and health of the social BODY
depend upon the soundness of its unit. That
unit is the family, and the hinge of the
family is to be found in the great and pro-
found institution of marriage. 1t might
be too much to say that a good system of
marriage law, and of the practice apper-
tanning to it, of itself insures the well-beinp
of community. But cannot doubt that
the converse is true, and that if the re-
lations of husband and wife are wrongly
comprehended in what most belongs to
them, either as to law or as to conduct, no
nation can rise to the fulfllment of the
higher destinies of man. There is a worm
in the gourd of the public prosperity, and
It must wither away.
l. On the first Of the four questions I
have to observe that the word divorce
appears to be used in three different senses.
First, it is popularity applied to cases Of
nullity, as IN the world-fnmous suit of
Henry VIII. T4is sense has only to be
named in order to be set aside, since the
finding of nullity simply means that, in the
particular case, no contract of marriage has
ever been made.
The second sense is that which is legal
known, in cancnical language, as divorce
q nenSd ct toro-from board and bed: and
which is termed in the English statute of
1857 judicial separation. The word is en-
ployed apparently in this sense by our au-
thorized version of the Bible Matt. v, 32).
The revised version substitutes the phrase
put away" The question now before me
appears to speak of a severance which does
not annul the contract of marriage, or re-
lease the parties from it's obligations, but
which conditionally and for certain grave
causes, suspends their operation in vital
PARTICULARS. | am not prepared to question
in any manner the concession which the
law of the church, apparently with the
direct authority Of st. Paul Il Cor. vii, To-.
makes in this respect to the necessities and
the infirmities of human nature.
2 The second question deals with what
may be called divorce proper. Il resolves
itself into the lnwfulness or unlawfulness of
remarriaSe, and the answer appears to me
to be tat remarriage is not admissible
under any circumstances or conditions
whatsoever.
Not that the difficulties arising from in
congruou marriage are to be either denied
or extentated. They are insoluble. But
the remed is worse than the disease
These sweeping statements ought, am
aware, to 70 supported by reasoning in de-
tail; whica space does not permit, and
which ] an not qualified adequately to
supply. Bit it seems to me that such reas-
oning nigh fall under the following heads:
That marriage is essentially a contract
for life, AM only expires when life itself
expires.
That christian marriage involves a VOW
before God.
That no authority has been given to the
Christian chlrch to cancel such VOW.
That 1t lbs beyond the province of the
civil legislative, which from the necessity
Of things, ha a veto within the limits of
reason upon the making of it, but has no
competency tuannul it when once made.
That according to the laws of just inter
probation renArriage is forbidden by the
text of Holy Scripture.
would hee observe:
l. That thedeclaratlons of the Gospels of
St. Mark (x,D, and st. Luke xvi, 49,. and
Of st. Paul Cor. vii, TO- make no excep-
ton whateve,
2. That tts language of st. Matthew
prohibits absolutely the remarriage of a
woman divorced or put away (dpoleteme-
men, not ten apoIeEumenen).
s. That the reservation found in st.
Matthew only Il reasonably to be referred
to the special Law of Moses, OF what is here
termed pOTneid.
That, althoughprivate opinions have not
been uniform evin in the west, the law of
the Latin churchand also of the Anglican
church from tim immemorial allows of no
remarriage
divorce with liberty to remarry was in
cluded in the RformGtio Legur,l EccLesi-
dSticdrun undf Edward W. but that
code never receiied sanction. In all likeli-
hood it was disaproyed by Queen Elizabeth
and her adviser.1
That divorce ,roper, without limitation,
essentially and rom the time of contraction
onward, alters the character of marriage
and substitutes a relation different in
ground and nature.
That divorce with limitation rests upon
no clear groun{ either of principle or OF
authority.
In Englandlt was urged, on behalf the
plll of 1857, thlt adultery broke the mar
rage bond ipb fdcto. Yet when the adul-
tery is of botg the parties divorce cannot be
glVenl Agah, it is said that the limo
cent party nay remarry. But ~ this is q
distinction Unknown to Scripture and tc
history, andC9 this innocent party, who is
commonly he husband, is in many cases
Ihe more guilty Of the two.]
mat div,rce does not appear to have ac-
companiedprimitive marriage. In Script
ure we hAr nothing Of it before Nose !.
among tip Homeric Achaians it clearly
Ilo not exist. 1t marks degeneracy and the
mcreasingsway of passion.
=, III. Willie divorce of any kind impairs
sne integrity of the family, divorce with
aTsalnarriaje destroys it root aud branch.
Inc pareital and the conjugal relations are
Joined together" by the hand of the
thlulgntt no less than the persons united
" tne marriage tie to one another. Mar
;;5idge cottemplates not only an absolute
..I1entlty # interests and affections, but also
o oIe creation of new, joint and Independent
GTongatids, stretching into the future and
n limited oily by the stroke of death. These
GTollgatlois where divorce proper is in force
o Use all community, and the obedience re-