910

house with what feelings, with what eyes, will he
look upon that man's wife who is now his own? Nay,
rather, one could not rightly call such a woman
either his or his own wife; for the adulteress is no
man's wife. She has broken the covenant she made
with him, and she has not come to you with a
lawful sanction." 1

The passage assumes a changed aspect when read
with its context. Indeed, it is only a portion of an
exposition which sets forth, perhaps as plainly as
words can express it, the absolute indissolubility of
the marriage bond. He confesses that it will pro-
bably be an unwelcome doctrine, but it was the law,
and he dared not be silent. "The wife is bound
by the law"; she may not, therefore, under any cir-
cumstances, be separated during her husband's life-
time, or bring in another husband, or enter into a
second marriage. And see how carefully the Apostle
chose appropriate language, for he did not say, that
she should cohabit with her husband as long as he
lived, but what? a wife is bound by the law as
long as her husband is alive"; even, therefore, if
she were to give him a writ of divorce, though she
left his roof, though she went to live with another
1 οὐδὲ ἐκείνου, οὔτε αὑτοῦ δικαίως ἄν τις τὴν τοιαύτην προσέιποι,
ἡ γὰρ μοιχαλὶς οὐδενός ἐστι γυνή. καὶ γὰρ τὰς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον
συνθήκας ἐπάτησε, κ.τ.λ.

44

ty and unhesitating language as characterised the rlier witnesses, yet the deflection from the primie standard of the indissolubility of marriage is rdly so serious as under the circumstances might ave been reasonably expected.

doubt of the justice of invoking S. Chrysostom's authority in support of the remarriage of the divorced. In commenting on our Lord's words, "He that putteth away his wife causeth her to commit adultery, and he that marrieth a divorced woman committeth adultery," he says, "The former, though he take not another wife, by that act alone hath laid himself open to blame, having made the first an adulteress; the latter, again, is become an adulterer by taking her who is another's. For tell me not this, 'the other hath cast her out'; nay, for when cast out she continues to be the wife of him that expelled her "; and again he says, "She positively must keep the husband who was originally allotted to her, or being cast out of that house, not have any other refuge." 1

The conclusion which a careful and critical investigation of the available evidence in the second period of Church History in the East forces upon us is, that though there is not the same absolute unani

1 ὁ μὲν γὰρ κἂν ἑτέραν μὴ λάβῃ, τούτῳ αὐτῷ κατέστησεν ἑαυτὸν ἐγκλήματος ὑπεύθυνον, μοιχαλίδα ποιήσας ἐκείνην. ὁ δὲ τῷ τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν λαβεῖν, μοιχὸς γέγονε πάλιν. μὴ γάρ μοι τοῦτο εἴπῃς, ὅτι ἐξέβαλεν ἐκεῖνος. καὶ γὰρ ἐκβληθεῖσα μένει τοῦ ἐκβαλόντος οὖσα γυνή. . πᾶσα ἀνάγκη ἢ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς κληρωθέντα ἔχειν, ἢ τῆς οἰκίας ἐκπεσούσαν ἐκείνης μηδεμίαν ἑτέραν ἔχειν καταφυγὴν, καὶ ἄκουσα ἠναγκάζετο στέργειν τὸν σύνοικον. Hom. xvii. in S. Matt.

mity and unhesitating language as characterised the earlier witnesses, yet the deflection from the primitive standard of the indissolubility of marriage is hardly so serious as under the circumstances might have been reasonably expected.

S. Jerome.

Further

misinterpretations of

Bishop Cosin.

VIII.

Testimony of the Western Church during the same period.

As we return from the East to the West, we find ample means for deciding what this branch of the Church held on the nature of the marriage tie. Three of the most famous of all the Fathers wrote, and wrote abundantly during the period under consideration: viz., S. Jerome, S. Ambrose, and S. Augustine; and in each and all there is the fullest corroborative testimony for the ante-Nicene interpretation. Nevertheless, two of the three have been invoked in favour of divorce and remarriage,1 and the third as a doubtful authority.2 Let us first examine the evidence of S. Jerome upon which Cosin and others have claimed his support.

In 399 A.D. he wrote upon a case which had attracted some considerable attention. One Fabiola had deserted her lawful husband and contracted a second marriage during his lifetime; and S. Jerome 1 Cosin, ut supra, p. 494-5. 2 Bingham, XXII. v. § 2.