The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-05-18
GIBBONS ON DIVORCE
SAYS the Evil Is Almost as Bad
as MormoniSn.
FAMILY LIFE is IN PERIL
Fewer Unhappy Marriages
Were the Tie IndiSsoIubIe.

Copyright, 1899, by the Press Publishing
Company. The New York Worlld.)
New York, May 17.-Cardinal Gibbons
writes the following:
1 am requested by the Editor of The
World to state fully the attitude Of the
Church toward divorce-a question which
has lately been brought into painful prom
inence.
Marriage, in te view of the Church, is
the most ;nviola,bIe and irrevocabIe Of all
contracts that We're ever formed. Every
human compact may be lawfully dissolved
but this. Nations may be justified in alb
rogating treaties with each other; mer-
chants may dissolve partnerships; broth
ers will eventually leave the ppaternal
roof and, Ike Jacob and dEsau, separate
from one another; friends. like Abra-
ham and Lot, may be obliged to part COM
pany; but by the law of God the bond
uniting husband and wife can be dissolved
only by death. No earthly sword can sew
er the nuptial knot which the Lord has
tied; for what God hath joined together
let no man put asunder."
Three of the Evangelists, as well as the
Apostle Of the Gentles, proclaim the in
dissolubility Of marriage and forbid a
welded person to engage in second wewd-
lock during the life of his spouse. There
is, indeed, scarcely a moral precept more
strongly enforced in the Gospel than the
indissoluble character of marriage validly
contracted.
The Pharisees came to Jesus, tempting
Him, and saying:
rs It lawful for a man to put away his
wife for every cause? Who, answering,
said to them: Have We not read that he
who made man from the beginning, made
them male and female? And He said: For
this cause shall a man leave father and
mother and cleave to his wife, and they
two shall be one flesh. Therefore now
they are not two, but one flesh. What
therefore God has joined together, let no
man put asunder. They say to him: Why
then did Moses command to give a bill of
divorce and to put away? He said to
them: Because Moses, by reason of the
hardness of your heart, permitted you to
put away your wives; but from the begin
ming it was not so. And I say to you. that
whosoever shall put away his wife, except
it be for fornication, and shall marry an
other. committeth adultery, and he that
shall marry her that is put away commit
teth adultery"
Our Savior here emphatically declares
that the nuDtial bond is ratified by God
Himself. and hence that no man, nor any
dissolve the contract.
To the Pharisees interposing this obiec-
ton, if marriage is not to be dissolved
why then did Moses command to give a
divorce, our Lord replies that Moses did
not command. but simply permitted the
separation, and that in tolerating this in
diligence the great Cawgiver had regard
TO the violent passion of the Jewish people,
who would fall into a greater excess if
their desire to be divorced and to form a
new alliance were refused. But our Saw
Tor reminded them that in the primitive
times no such license was granted.
He then plainly afirTns that such a priv
ilege would not be conceded in the New
Dispensation, for He adds:
81 say to you: Whoesoever shah nut
away his wife, and shall marry another.
committeth adultery"
Protestant Commentators erroneousIv
assert that the text justifes an injured
husband in separating from his adulter-
Gus wife and in marrying again. But the
Catholic Church explains the Gospel in the
sense that, while the offended consort
may obtain a divorce from bed and board
from his unfaithful wife. he is not allowed
a divorce a vinculo matrimonii 50 as to
have the privilege Of marrying another.
This Interpretation IS confirmed bv the
concurrent testimony of the Evangelists
Mark and Luke and by St. Paul. all Of
'whom prohibit divorce a vinculo. without
any qualification whatever.
In St. Mark We read:
whatsoever shall put away his wife
and marry another. committeth adultery
against her. And if the wife shall mt
away her husband and h. married to an
other, she committeth adultery"
The same unqualified declaration is
made by St. Luke:
Every one that putteth awav his wife
and marrieth another. committeth adul-
terry; and he that marrieth her that is nut
away from her husband, committeth adul-
ter
Both Of these EvanEelists forbid either
husband or wife to enter into second we'd
lock. how agSravatng soever may be the
cause Of their separation And surely if
the case Of adultery authorized the ag-
srieved husband to marry another wife.
those inspired penman would not have
failed 10 mention that qualifying ci-cnm-
stance.
Passing from the Gospels TO the Epistle
Of st. Pam to the Corinthians. We find
there also an unqualified prohibition OF
divorce. The Apostle IS writing 10 a CITY
newly converted to the Christian religion
Among other topics he incuicates the doc
trine If the Church respecting mat-imonv.
We must suppose that. as an inspired
writer and faithful minister Of the
Word he discharges his duty co1scfer-
tiouS'y, without suprressinz or exteaa-
atins one iota Of the law Ell addresses
the Corinthians as follows:
TO them that are married. not T but