n
of wedded life from Mosaic legislation. Still less does He permit it
as a concession to human frailty. It has its ground in creation
itself, and while therefore it is the most natural of earthly
relationships it is of God's making. To the true ideal of marriage
there are several features which our Lord regards as indispensable.
(_a_) It must be _monogamous_, the fusion of two distinct
personalities. 'They two shall be one flesh.' Mutual self-impartation
demands that the union should be an exclusive one. (_b_) It is a
_union of equality_. Neither {224} personality is to be suppressed.
The wedded are partners who share one another's inmost thoughts and
most cherished purposes. But this claim of equality does not exclude
but rather include the different functions which, by reason of sex and
constitution, each is enabled to exercise. 'Woman is not undeveloped
man but diverse.' And it is in diversity that true unity consists.
Both will best realise their personality in seeking the perfection of
one another. (_c_) It is a _permanent_ union, indissoluble till the
parting of death. The only exception which Christ acknowledges is that
form of infidelity which _ipso facto_ has already ruptured the sacred
bond.[9] According to Jesus marriage is clearly intended by God to
involve sacred and permanent obligations, a covenant with God, as well
as with one another, which dare not be set aside at the dictate of a
whim or passion. The positive principle underlying this declaration
against divorce is the spirit of universal love that forbids that the
wife should be treated, as was the case among the dissolute of our
Lord's time, as a chattel or slave. Nothing could be more abhorrent to
Christian sentiment than the modern doctrine of 'leasehold marriage'
advocated by some.[10] It has been ingeniously suggested that the
record of marital unrest and divorce in America, shameful as it is, may
not be in many cases altogether an evil. The very demand to annul a
union in which reverence and affection have been forfeited may spring
from a growing desire to realise the true ideal of marriage.[11] (_d_)
Finally, it is a _spiritual_ union. It is something more than a legal
contract, or even an ecclesiastical ordinance. The State must indeed
safeguard the civil rights of the parties to the compact, and the
Church's ceremony ought to be sought as the expression of divine
blessing and approval. But of themselves these do not cons